I have played lol for a long time now, a few months after beta ended and have to say that i have some knowledge of the game. This is my first guide and i hope it helps people get a better feel for Garen.

Garen is a off-tank mele champ. That means he is not ment to be built as what they call a glass cannon (Nothing but damage items). By building this build, You will be very annoying to the enemy team because they cant hurt you easily but at the same time this doesnt mean your are superman. You will eventually be killed if you let Garens awesome build get to your head. I will warn you that you will feel like Garen goes where he pleases.

The build i use for Garen is all about staying in the lane for as long as possible. The Regrowth Pendent with your passive lets you stay in lane. i usually never get forced out of the lane and hit lvl 18 way before everyone else. There are three items that are a must for my build, Boots of swiftness for the extra speed (combined with your Q is an easy escape/chase). Warmogs armor is for the beefy max health and health regen. Force of nature for the movement speed plus the op passive from nature's health regen. After you get all three of those items, you are officially hard to kill and everything else you build will be situational.

Its best to play passive and get farm early game as thats they way everyone should play. I will usually stand in the center of the minion wave and use my spin (E) to farm. If the enemy champ is near the creep wave, ill go in with my Q active to force them away. If the enemy champ decides to take the hit, follow up with your spin to maximize damage on the champ. after about 2 or 3 combo's, they usually learn their lesson and back off. Also if you push to their tower, you can hit it with your Q for more damage.

The purpose of this set up in masteries is to make Garen as tanky and as fast as possible because you are gonna be the one initiating fights as well as the hardest person to kill. The downside to this is that you wont deal a ton of damage, therefor you will be ignored in fights if the enemy team are smart players.

Just as you read above, the same applies. Tanky + movement speed = hard and annoying to kill.

Start the game with a Regrowth Pendant and a health pot. The reason for this is that combined with Garen's passive, you can regen the health back by avoiding the enemy champs poke. Another awesome part about the regen is that attacks from minions doesnt stop Garen's passive. The goal of your starting items is to stay in lane as long as possible. I would never go back unless i have the gold to buy warmogs as soon as possible because you get more out of the item as time passes. I also avoid buying boots until after warmogs is built unless the top champ is easily poking you and your Q isnt fast enough to get you away.

When you go back, you should have enough gold for your giant's belt. grab that (unless you can build your warmogs) the grab a ward. You should always have a ward for your bush when you go back. grab basic boots when you finish warmogs.

By the 20 - 25 min. mark, you should have finished your boots of swiftness, warmogs, and force of nature. At this point, you should feel very tanky and awesome.