Heimerdinger Build Guide by Arocities

Introduction

I have read many guides for Heimer and it seems like each new guide I read my Heimer gets better and better. However, I have noticed a disturbing trend. More often than not our beloved little yordle with the big...heart (he's a little self-conscious of the "brain" thing) is misunderstood. Did you know that he is actually a support champion per se? A pusher to be precise. Do his rockets do an absurd amount of damage? Absolutely! Can you rack up kills with him? Hard not to! In fact, I have trouble not stealing them. (sorry MuffinStuff. I can't control who the turrets shoot...especially when I'm on the summoner platform buying wards). I will hereby attempt to convert you to my school of thought about this colossal cranium-ed inventor.

Runes

Marks

In 99% of cases I feel the only good marks for anyone are Armor Pen or Magic Pen. If I need to explain why I didn't choose Armor Pen for Heimer then there are some beginner guides I could recommend.

Seals

I have tried a few options here but find myself coming back to MP/5. The flats help you early game maintain lane dominance. It feeds your rocket poke.

Glyphs

CDR....I know his UPGRADE!!! passively gives you CDR. My argument here is this: a few options for alternate glyphs are AP, MP/5, and MR. All have valid arguments. 1)AP-makes your poke harder, zone easier, and you don't need the CDR once you hit lvl 6 combined with masteries. 2) MR- only really a valid choice because if you end up mid you will be (or should be) laning against an AP champion. 3) MP/5- but Arocities, you have them as your seals why not pile some more on? Another valid argument and of these 3 the most valid replacement but still no.

I bring CDR glyphs because you, as Heimer, are there to support your team. Give that lane a little push. Hold that lane against two champions while your team sneaks in a dragon. Throw out those rockets during a team fight. Throw them again. Support champions need to be able to cast that all important spell exactly when its needed: throwing out damage, blinds, and stuns.

Masteries

Pretty straight forward. Get your CDR and MrPen from offense. Pretty standard utility. I will say this though: if you won't be able to grab blue buff early to mid game (don't need the CDR late game...give it to someone else) then switch out your neutral buff bonus for reduced time dead or some max mana. Gold/10 is a little overkill here.

Summoner Spells

Flash

The most versatile summoner spell available. Offensive or defensive. Heimer is arguably the squishiest champion in the League. Flash away from hurt. Flash over a wall to escape a gank. That fed carry running for their life with 100 hp? give them a bonified flash-rocket. I use flash to bait people back to my turrets or I guess I should say I use it after I bait them back to my turrets. More on that to follow.

Teleport

I find this useful as a support pusher. Bottom lane just got a double kill? Tele down there and push that tower. Top lane getting ganked? Tele up there and turn the tide. Right place, right time. That's how you have to play Heimer.

I believe any other summoner spell reduces his place within the team. Ghost gives you some maneuverability to support the lanes and get to where you're needed but not quite like Teleport. Not really effective in getting away. A good Flash over a wall is usually good enough and if you need to Flash AND Ghost every time you escape you are wasting your spells. Exhaust and Ignite are cute tricks but selfish. Let someone else bring them...like your carries. The only argument I will accept is Clairvoyance. If you are your teams support you may be called upon to bring it and it may be necessary. I don't bring it on my team because mid to late game I should have to map mostly warded.

Skill Sequence

Techmaturgical Repair Bots

Great passive. Helps you sustain your lane, supports your lane partners and if you get pushed back it even heals your towers a little. It makes harassing Heimer more difficult.

H-28G Evolution Turret

The real champion. Although not the first thing I max, the difference in my style of play is my turrets. So many times an over-aggressive champion will rush me and forget that, like the towers, once you hit me my turrets switch to you. Often forgotten, your turrets will continually dish out damage ( UPGRADE!!! slows) during team fights and sometimes a retreating enemy will even walk BACK through their range while falling back.

Hextech Micro-Rockets

Highest damage option you have. Fantastic poke. Spam these in a team fight. Your rockets can be a double-edged sword however because they dish out some hurt but they only hit the 3 closest targets so sometimes you have to do some maneuvering to hit who you want to. This often puts you in range of their hurt too. During lane phase keep an eye on your opponents positioning. Often champions will "hide" behind the minions. If there are only 3 between you and him, as soon as one minion dies hit your rockets. Your rockets, not your turrets, help you gain control of your lane. More on that later.

CH-1 Concussion Grenade

I don't take a point until level 7. I only vary from this if for some reason my lane is getting out pushed or I'm laning against a good ranged AD. Now once you do put a point in grenade keep in mind that it is a longer ranged option for harassing and it costs less mana.

UPGRADE!!!

Does just what it says...makes everything better. In fact, I swear it makes his brain juuuuuust a little bit bigger. Wasn't sure that was even possible. Must be seeing things. Everyone knows it makes his turrets ice-slinging machines of slow-motion death, but remember: it fully heals them, lets you throw 5 rockets at a time (not fair) and speeds up your grenade animation (keep that in mind when trying to time a stun).

Items

For some reason this, and this alone, is what people judge your build by. I will preface with this: Are these the only items I can buy for Heimer? No. Is this the ultimate super awesomest besterestest way of building Heimer? Probably not. Does this work? Yup! Will this help my team win? It will give you a better chance of winning. You won't carry. You're not supposed to. It WILL make good people on your team BETTER and that, my friends, THAT is the money shot. After all the key word in support is...support. Look it up.

This was actually the hardest section for me to write. I don't have a set build for Heimer and I dare say that there isn't a BEST one. You have to be very situational. For example if I'm laning against a particularly tough AP carry I might build a Chalice of Harmony because I'm using my moves more to fend them off and keep my push up and to get a little bit of MR to withstand any harassment. Keep in mind 2 things when buying items. 1) Your job is to push. When that time comes you have to have enough mana to get the job done. MP/5 is your friend. 2) You have to be alive to do your job (see #1). If you have to buy a doran's ring to keep from dying to that annie...go ahead. If you feel like you need a Rod of Ages to give you some HP/MP...do it. Here is my most common build:

I start with two Faerie Charms. This is the most unique part of my build. I used to be of the opinion you start with a Meki Pendant and move to a Tear of the Goddess. I have moved on from that method of thinking. It's great for your mana pool and has a good MP/5 but it takes time to build that passive and I find that I exhaust my mana pool doing just that. In my opinion, it is a waste of an item slot and gold and takes too long to become effective. I start with two Faerie Charms and some pots. Lane a little. Get my ulti. Harass a little. Try not to over push (a skill all on its own with Heimerdinger) First trip back finish one Philosopher's Stone and get your boots. Make sure you save enough money for a ward or two. I get two even if it means only getting Boots of Speed. I finish my Sorcerer's Boots before moving on to other items though. There have been dozens of games I have won with my Philosopher's Stone and Sorcerer's Boots alone. Granted I ended the game with 4k of unspent gold (not my fault they surrendered before I could shop). From this point on your rockets hurt anyone without MR. Philosopher's Stone helps you in buying wards. Heimerdinger should be buying so many wards its rediculous. He gets farm without even trying hard and now you have a Philosopher's Stone. You can be your teams biggest asset with this item because you can stay in lane longer with its re-gen effects, you buy more wards with its gold, and you can roam to help lanes push or defend and re-gen that mission HP/MP on the way.

After this point start your Rylai's Crystal Scepter by picking up the Giant's Belt. Makes you a little less squishy....only a little though. Finish Rylai's and move on to Needlessly Large Rod. This lets you decide your next item. If you're being focused turn it into your Zhonya's Hourglass if not it can become the delicious Rabadon's Deathcap. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is more satisfying when I'm playing Heimer to pop my Zhonya's while I absorb 2 ulties and my turrets are dishing out hurt just to immediately grenade stun them and flash away. MMMMMmmmm good times.

If the opposing team is CC heavy now's a good time to change that second [Faerie Charm]] into an Eleisa's Miracle. If they have very little CC you sell this Faerie Charm late game to make room for wards.

Finish Rabadon's Deathcap or Zhonya's Hourglass again depending on how the game is going. Hopefully you have won by now.

Lane Phase

Your object should always be to zone your opponent. You don't have to last hit much after level 5 because you have your two turrets for that. Let's start with turret positioning.

Most Heimers I have seen play behind their turrets. Basically, this creates a "front line". A point where the damage begins. Their zone of control is pretty solid but quite uncontrollable. I play in front of my turrets. This creates a "fall back" point. A safe refuge I can retreat to where death and pain are dealt out by the pound (or kilo). The idea I'm trying to get at here is that my turrets pick up the minions while I zone the champion. A neutral minion wave is what I call it when a normal, undamaged minion wave meets in the exact center of the lane i.e. the very first wave of the game. In a neutral wave you place your turret(s) level with your caster minions on either side. You spread out your turrets to increase their area of effect, prevent AOE spells from taking them both out, and creating cross fires for the poor minions caught in between them. Unless you're pushing hard, don't waste your rockets on minions. Use them to harass the champion. Stand off to the side of your casters. This has 2 effects: 1) you bait your opponent into wasting skill shots on you (you will become PRO at dodging skillshots using this guide) 2) you prevent unit collision from interfering with your movements...like dodging.

Early levels you will focus on last hitting and rocketing your opponent ANY time they are one of the 3 closest enemies. If your opponent can't count to 3 and they are in rocket range...make them hurt. After that wave moves forward don't replace your turret, save the mana for those rockets. you don't want to push anyway. Stay away from any harass and poke back with those rockets.
A brief word about what I mean when I say harass: Harassing depends on your opponent. Most people try to poke you until you die or have to recall. Effective, but not the only way. I call that HP harassing. You can force them to waste mana by dodging skillshots or pokes, making them use mana to last hit and keep from getting pushed back. I call this Mana Harassing. If you're solo mid you can also Gold Harass or Farm Harass. This goes beyond just zoning them from last hits but also keeping them low HP. A low HP mid is a nervous one. He might buy a few mana pots or another Doran's item. Maybe a ward or two. Usually a mid champion needs all the farm they can get and making them spend 100 gold on a ward and a pot may not sound like much but its a win in my book.

So let's say you HP harassed them and they have to recall now, maybe to buy another Doran's Ring. Now's when I try to give them a little nudge. If their jungle isn't there to immediately cover, throw out your rockets, grenade the caster minions and plant your turrets BEHIND the enemy casters but not in the tower range. The trick here is to put the turrets where your minions can go up and hurt the tower and your turrets can shoot the enemy minions still and keep the lane pushed until you get back. Then back up to the safety of your tower and recall. "Buy you some shoes girl!"

So now we know several ways to harass. We have some new shoes. Here we are, for example level 8, we have 2 turrets BEHIND us and we're standing off to the right of our casters. You now have your grenade. I level this last but I feel this separates a good Heimer from a great one. If you are landing your stuns your team should wreck mid to late game. If you're having an off night or they're dodgeball champions then it will be a little trickier. Once you unlock your grenade use it to keep your opponents zoned. I always move in the same direction as my grenade so if the stun lands i can close distance, rocket and get out before they can hit me. At this point we are approaching Mid Game.

Mid-Game (is there an echo?)

Timing and Positioning. It's your job to work with your team to know where to be. I can't teach this in one guide. Odds are you probably know without me telling you anyway. Remember you brought the Teleport like I told you. Use it. Suprise push a lane. Turn an enemy gank on your solo top into a double kill for your team. Heimer's turrets make great sentries for dragon and baron fights. If your bottom lane gets their tower down first, congrats, now they can come mid (or top) and quickly overwhelm that turret before the enemy can respond. It won't leave your bottom lane exposed because Heimer can Teleport down there and cover. Even against two. Maybe against three. Doubtful, but maybe.

Late-Game

Here you are sending out rockets of death and destruction in every team fight (the W on your keyboard should be worn off by now) you are blinding the enemy ranged AD or stunning a melee that got to yours (If Tryndamere gets all over your Caitlyn please stun him...unless MuffinStuff is your Rammus...then it's GG) You're putting your turrets down on either side of the team fight. Your team has forgotten what the fog of war looks like because you have wards everywhere. Hopefully you are making everyone on your team better and trying your hardest not to take too many kills from your carries (I call it Kill Securing Pharmacist. Good Luck and Have Fun.