Garen Build Guide by Chochobob

Introduction

Garen is one of the strongest champions out there, and personally I am unstoppable solo top, and in 3's, I find myself to be the most effective AD carry when playing Garen. I don't build complete tank, but I don't build straight AD. Don't be mad because you see a crazy high number of AD and think that it is not possible. I will be making videos of use with this build. IT WORKS.

I decided to make this build a couple of weeks before actually posting this. My friend has been level 30 for a much longer time than me, and had a lot of experience. He plays ranked matches and is in a very solid clan. He created a build that I used as the basis to the one I am sharing with you.

First of all, I don't see any point in tanking as Garen. There are other champions out there who are MUCH better at it. For example, Darius. He was nerfed in this Draven patch, and still destroys.

AD Garen is quite simple.

STEPS:
-Get crazy amounts of attack damage.
-Get in a team fight.

-Silence with Decisive Strike
-Spin
-If they are not dead from spin, ulti for the win.
-Rinse and Repeat.

I hated getting countered as Garen as well. This is pretty hard to counter because you have Magic Resist/ Thornmail, and a decent amount of lifesteal.

This isn't the typical noob build of straight AD. Yes, it is mainly AD but it has lifesteal etc. like I said earlier. Trust me :D

Hope this works for you as well as it works for me.

Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

Pros and Cons

spaaaaaaace

Pros + Very strong early game + Can go basically any lane + Hard to run away from + Has a silence + Easy to farm with and jungle later game + Easy skill sequence

space

space

Cons - Hits slow early game - Easily kited - Typically easy to counter(as with all AD)

Masteries

Ok so in this build i chose 21 in offense, which is ideal for maximum damage output. Garen does not scale on AP, so again straight AD in masteries in important. However, I choose 9 in defense because as a solo top lane or just the general AD carry, it is good to have a defensive edge, and especially with the choice of runes.

Runes

• greater quintessence of Desolation: Armor penetration is extremely import for any AD champion, and any AD carry. If anyone tries to counter, your damage still hits hard;we all love damage :)
  
• Greater Quintessence of Scaling Attack Damage: This choice is important because it gives a bit more AD as your Garen is scaling. The more the better.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: Again, important for maximum damage output.
  
• greater mark of desolation: This is extremely important, along with the quintessence. The more armor pen, the less resistance armor will have on an enemy.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Attack Damage: Extremely important early game. The point of this build is to get early kills. This helps to create the most damage output as quick as possible.
  
• Greater Seal of Scaling Attack Damage: Another addition to the damage scale.
  
• Greater Seal of Attack Damage: Aids in maximum damage output throughout the game.

Summoner Spells

[Exhaust]: This spell is the definition of Garen. It slows the enemy player, reduces attack, spell, and item damage by a high percentage. Perfect for 1v1s, running away, or ganking.

space

[Ignite]: Very good to get some kills early game or a finisher when your ulti is on cooldown.

space

• Garen does not really need Flash because he is extremely fast with Swift Boots and the active of Decisive Strike
• Heal is also a pretty obvious NO NO. Garen's passive heals over time and the build has lifesteal. So this choice is not viable.
• Others would be Rally, Cleanse, ETC.

Ability Explanation

• Perseverance: Quite simple but very important. This heals you over time. So you really only need to leave your lane to gank or get new items.
  
• Decisive Strike (Q): Major part of Garen. This ability not only increases your speed and hits extremely hard, but has a 2.5 second silence. Very useful every second of the game.
  
• Courage (W): This is what makes you a viable champion for an AD carry. You not only have insane amounts of damage output, but you have a defensive end too
  
• Judgment (E): This is where all of the "Spin to crit" "Spin to win" guides come from and is a huge damage machine. Garen spins and hits everyone in range of his sword. Lots of damage.
  
• Demacian Justice (R): Not a great ulti, but very good. Garen brings down Demacian Justice on his opponent dealing damage. But, the more health the enemy is missing, the more damage Garen does. So, only use this when the enemy is low on health.

Skill Sequences

This is my preference of skills. I feel that Courage is not important this early because you have Perseverance and again, this build is made for heavy damage.


This is the combat sequence.

I like this sequence because Courage allows you to basically tank, but followed by Decisive Strike and Judgment so you do insane amounts of damage, while taking very little.

So pop Courage, run in and do some damage :)

Items

• Early game damage and life steal.
• Makes Garen impossible to catch, and allows you to catch up with enemies.
• Its good to get this when building into The Bloodthirster because its a good damage output around this level, because of the scaling.
• Must I say it again?
• Good to counter any melee if you are having trouble. (Skip if you are doing good)
• Ok from here, your unstoppable.
• Have fun. People will just die.
• If you get this you know its over already.

Farming/Jungling and Teamfights

Typically Garen is easy to farm with, and very easy to jungle with later game.
When laning, it is good to use Decisive Strike to finish off minions for the kill, or Judgment if no one is going to be fighting within 10 seconds. As you level, you might not need to finish off enemies with your abilities. Personally, I like to sit back and wait for my minions to take down the enemy minions while I harass with Decisive Strike. Then, I kill the enemy minions once they are low on health(usually less than half).



In a team fight with this build, you are typically going to take the most damage. If this is the case, pop Courage early and use Judgment. The reason why is because when you use judgement, you reduce any slows by 50% and remove any existing slows. This is very important because if you take a lot of damage and are the focus, it gives your team time to put out damage with no pressure.

If you are not the focus, use the same sequence I posted above. It is always good to choose a focus before you start a fight.

Alternative Items

Any good player is going to try to counter you. It's that simple. If this does happen... I would recommend this.

In the Cheat Sheet, I put in a Thornmail.
-Against casters, get a Sunfire Cape or maybe any Magic Resist item.

If you think you are doing enough damage and don't need the extra lifesteal, I would also recommend getting Last Whisper for straight AD and armor penatration, or a Phantom Dancer for attack speed. This is up to you. Experiment :D

Summary

Well as you can see this AD carry is pretty simple. Garen is a solid champion on his own, and hopefully this will help everyone out. :) I love Garen and hopefully you will to after using this build. Please keep in mind this is my first guide and if anyone have requests please comment. I will be adding some gameplay videos soon!


Please leave some feedback!

-Chochobob


Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.