I have never played Garen before.

4/6 of the items take red stones. This is 9 total red stones, and buying one is a safe bet and it will build into the item you want.

Build def if you have trouble staying alive. Lane hard.

You deal little damage, and this is what ruined king is for; to provide a bit of damage. This damage is based off of attack speed more than +dmg, so this allows Garen to have a bit of ability to dissuade enemy champs from persuing your ally you are attempting to protect.

This Garen build has no magic resist, so don't engage magic users without help. This build is largely to run around and secure kills in team fights by preventing enemies from running away.

This garen has no armor and is succeptible to Attack Damage; this means that he should run away from these ADC champs if there is nobody to support him. This Garen's dps will not be competitive against any ADC, but slowing the ADC and allowing one's Damage champs to attack more easily is good.

This is a support style Garen and the player should move around the map attempting to catch champs out of position and help push lanes when the time comes.

With Cutlas; hug towers, and then cast slow on an enemy that approaches and then spin them while hopefully in tower attack range; then if need be, cast ultimate.

This is a Garen build designed to escape when threatened, and primarily chase and slow to secure kills in team fights rather than tank as much dmg.

MR because it is the best value of something to occupy the blue slots.

Move speed because this is chase build.

% health because you have a lot of health.

% atk speed because your main source of dmg is Fallen King; this deals damage based on atk speed rather than damage. Without attack speed, it is more likely that enemy champs can get away from you enough to where you cannot keep the hammer slow applied.

Pure Defense basically. This guy has a lot of health, but little in terms of reduction of damage; so any bit helps.

Fallen King: +dmg is not impactful; % atk speed is good for keeping slow applied; Good active for escape and chase; decent damage threat source when one has little +dmg (people should be cautious of you, if not afraid of you) The % health is good because it reduces faster the higher the % health of the opponent; this means your ultimate will be "primed" by the enemies lower health much faster than attempting to do raw dmg.

Frozen Mallet; This is the keystone of this build, and applying the 40% slow can shut down champs that can run away and give one's allies some advantage in team fight chases to secure kills.


Merc Treads - Alacrity ; tenacity is key or you're just snared and killed easily. movement is good; Q gives +% move speed, so having +numbers is good for this.

Warmog ; very good synergy with Garen passive ability

Black Cleaver; marginal +dmg; marginal +health; the key to this item is that it gives +move speed from attacking, and this empowers the chase ability; the ability to reduce armor on a tank is also good as it allows the ADC to deal more damage, and Garen should have the ability to sustain a few blows from the enemy tank, as it's damage will not be high. %CD reduction is good for Garen both offensively and defensively.


Spirit Visage; Health is Garen's key stat in this build, so providing this is always crucial. This also has good def stats against wizards, and the passive is very nice, as Garen has much % passive regeneration, but the % gain on vamp is negligible; (20% of 10% lifesteal is only 12% lifesteal.) ; The % CD reduction is very good, because the more you can sprint with Q, the more you are able to gain ground on enemies that have slipped out of your slow range with their escape ability.

Pros

+ Cheap (Most expensive item is 3300 shekels)
+ Utility (Good slow, decent survivability, decent lane clearing until inhibitors are gone)
+Good Team Player; Good at catching enemies out of position; turning mistakes into costly mistakes when an ally can help supply damage to the target Garen is slowing.
+ Decent escape with atk slow; cast slow; +speed; +%speed on hit; and Garen Q ability


Cons
- Poor solo fighting
- vulnurable to ADC and Slow/Stun at the same time
- Trades Damage Capacity for Teamfight Utility (Ruined King active and Mallet Slow)

This comes down to being clever; if enemies see you approaching, you are not that fast to catch them and they can easily run away behind tower. This build relies heavily on exploiting the paths throughout the jungle and hiding in the grass to sneak up on enemies and then pounce like a tigress when the time is right.

This is only effective once one has mallet and Ruined king, so one should focus on laning before that point, while still using cutlas as a limited slow.

Exploit the grasses when you can. Many players will forget that they even saw you go into the grass if they do not have wards. Lay in wait for them to advance far enough down the lane before you strike;

Sprint; attack; cutlass; spin;