Build started 23 July 2011 --- finished 24 July 2011

Marks: Greater Mark of Magic Penetration are always the best Marks for Amumu. These are good runes both if you are laning and if you are jungling. You have 4 abilities with magic damage.
Because you don't have any taunt for helping your team you will have to deal great damage in order to be a threat for your opponents.

Seals: Greater Seal of Vitality or Greater Seal of Armor are the Seals you are going to need. HP per level are my favourite in case of laning, because you will anyway have enough armor from items and the health will help in Early-Game.
If you are instead going to jungle as Amumu the flat armor from the Greater Seals of Resilience together with the Cloth Armor will help for the first levels against the jungle minions.

Glyphs: Greater Glyph of Magic Resist or Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist are instead the Glyphs Amumu will need. The flat Magic Resistance is needed in the laning phase, where you may be harrassed by enemies with Ability Power spells.
The Magic Resistance per level will be best if you are going to jungle because no Magic Resistance is needed for the first 4 levels, before you are going to gank.

Quintessences: Greater Quintessence of Health are always the best, unless you really want extra Health per level or extra Magic Penetration.

At least 20 points will always go into the Defense mastery tree just because you are going to be the main tank of your team.

If you are going to stay laning in the early game it's best to go 9 points in offense to get the AP per level and the Magic Penetration. in additional you can improve Exhaust.
The rest will go in Defense, picking the tandard defensive mastery points. The choice is between extra Health Regeneration or some Dodge. I personally go for the Dodge, even if i do not take it for Seals.

If you are going to jungle you will for sure be picking the standard 9 points in the Utility mastery tree for extra Experience and minion buff duration.
Then you can choose between 20 points in Defense and 1 in Offense for improved Smite or 21 points in defense.
I personally prefear to go 1-18-11 as a jungler Amumu.

Flash is maybe the best summoner spell there is those days and only champions like Kassadin can decide to avoid taking this spell. Amumu needs it for ganking and for placing good stuns.

Exhaust is a good support spell and also helps you if you really need to get the last easy kill for an ace or if you really need to run. I take this as second summoner spell because Amumu doesn't have any taunt ability and needs to support his team as much as possible, even with summoner spells.

Ghost is very good and is a possible choice if you want even if i prefear Flash and Exhaust.
Ghost helps if you are maybe jungling and a lane is in trouble while you are far away, or when a Team Fight is taking place without you.

Teleport is always good (only in 5v5) if you feel like you need more mobility.

Last aviable Summoner Spells are the standards for tanks: Fortify and Cleanse.

While laning as Amumu you will have to get only 1 point on your "Q" while as many points as possible should go to your "E".
Every time it's possible you should go for "E" and picking "W" when it is not possible. Obviously "R" at levels 6;11;16.

While jungling your skills should be a mixture of "W" and "E", picking "W" first.
A single point in "Q" should be picked at level 4 when you will need your stun for ganking.

So:
LANING --- R > E > W > Q + (Q at LvL 1)

JUNGLING --- R > W and E > Q + (Q at LvL 4)

How to construct your item builds

Builds Summary

while laning against a
Balanced Team:
+ + + + +

High Attack Damage Team:
+ + + + +

High Ability Power Team:
+ + + + +

while jungling:
+ + + + +


Builds description in depth

Balanced Team:
The main items are Sunfire Aegis, Banshee's Veil and Randuin's Omen. Boots included.
The rest is up to your personal choice.
You will start with a Sapphyre Crystal because the extra mana helps while laning. Some health will come as soon as you level up thanks to the Seal Runes. With the first recall you will get Boots of Speed and hopefully Catalyst the Protector as well. This should help for the first minutes of game. Then instead of finishing Banshee's Vein you will get Chain Vest for the armor that really helps in Early-Game, building it into a Sunfire Aegis as soon as you have enough gold. Then a Hearth of Gold will follow, and after that get your Banshee's Veil.
After you get the Randuin's Omen you just have to see the opposite team composition. If you are in advantage you can always get an Abyssal Mask to increase your damage while getting some extra Magic Resistance.
Otherways just get Frozen Heart and Guardian Angel for abvious reasons. Much mana and slow on AD enemies + free revive in case of need.

High AD Team:
You can wait with your Sapphyre Crystan and not upgrade it to a Catalyst the Protector if you really don't need the Magic Resistance of Banshee's Veil.
Normally you get Boots followed by a Giant's Belt as first item. Now upgrade your boots and check if you may want to get a Banshee's Veil even if there is even only one AP enemy. Otherwise start building your Frozen Heart.
Before Frozen Heart is finished check the game status. If the opposite team is pushing hard try getting a Thornmail as soon as possible. If not just finish building Frozen Heart.
After all of that finish your build with a Randuin's Omen and a Guardian Angel.

High AP Team:
I don't take Quicksilver Sash because nobody will really focus much on you and if they do, your team wins.
Banshee's Veil and Abyssal Mask are the only really important items against such an enemy team. start with Banshee's Veil followed by a Sunfire Aegis. Sunfire Cape is good even if there is only one AD enemy champion because it helps you increasing your DPS anyway.
If the enemy team is pushing get a Force of Nature, or start building an Abyssal Mask if not. As last buy a Guardian Angel followed by a Force of Nature if you haven't bought it yet.

Jungling:
If you are jungling you will need to mix the standard jungling items with the items needed against your enemies.
The main items for jungling are Randuin's Omen and Aegis of the Legion.
If you feel that you need extra mana you can always get a Frozen Heart.
Start by buying a Heart of Gold to help you with extra gold and for getting Randuin's Omen in the future. Randuin's Omen is a perfect item for ganking and that's why you will need it as soon as possible, even if you are against a high AP team.
Continue building an Aegis of the Legion which is very cheap and helpful in Early/Mid-Game.
Frozen Heart is also a good item because it slows auto attacks and gives a lot of mana and armor. Get it only if there are more than 2 AD enemies.
The boots should be or Mercury's Treads or Boots of Swiftness.
Finish your build buying items related to your opponents.

3v3:
While playing in a 3v3 in Twisted Treeline Amumu will walways be starting at Bottom Lane, letting the Carry level fast at Top Lane.
It is important that since the very first minute of game you play very aggressively so that your lane will dominate. You will have no problems usying your high HP to take some damage while forcing your enemies to retreat a bit, not farming. If you put yourself between your enemies and your lane partner (as you should always do as a tank) u can easily protect your minions and your partner from skill shots or ranged attacks. If you are in a premade it is also easy to start pushing hard thanks to your Bandage Toss stun (Q) while supported by your friend.
If you manage to get a kill or to make an enemy retreat to base for restoring HP your job as Amumu is to go and help top lane, even if there is no help needed.
If top lane is free from enemy champions you have to push, even usying some abilities, while their bot lane could resist much better. If there is an enemy in top lane you should instead try to gank him. You can use your Q ability for jumping through the wall or you can take a walk into the jungle and gank the enemy champion from behind, usying Q when necessary to stop him from running.
In a 3v3 once your carry champions are well fed you have an easy game. If you have done a good job you should have a lot of assists and maybe even some kills (and deaths), so gold should not be a real problem.
If an enemy turret is already destroyed your team can keep pushing both top and bot lane, while you gank as often as possible with wall jumps. If no turrats has been destroyed before like 15 or 20 minutes you should try to gank top and get the kill in order to push very very hard bot lane in a 2v3 so that you can finally get a turret.
In this situation you can get enough items for towerdiving without problems.
If you are not in a good situation and your team maybe fed a bit, Amumu is perfect for ganking single enemies even usying all of your stuns.
If you manage to get doen an enemy in the jungle while your team has a disvantage, it becomes much easier for you to counter the enemies.

5v5 Solo Laning:
While solo laning there is only one way to play. Passively.
Even if you have high HP thanks to the runes, you don't have any HP Regeneration. That's why you must pay attantion to every single health bar you have.
You must just wait until your jungler comes to help you. That's when you are going to need all of your health, for running into the enemies and maybe even tower-dive a few seconds to get the kill. Thanks to the HP per level Greater Seal of VitalitySeal Runes you don't really need HP items before the first recall.
So in solo lane you have to keep waiting until something happens. If an enemy turret is destroyed at bot lane for example, one of the bot laners and the jungler should come and help you pushing in a 2v3.

5v5 Dual Laning:
While dual laning in a 5v5 as Amumu (usually it will be a normal game / low ELO game) you will have to force the enemy carry to attack you by jumping in with Q and running away. Your health will noever be in real danger thanks to the bushes where you can hide yourself.
Pay attention to your mana bar, because even if you start with a Sapphyre Crystal, your abilities cost a lot and you will need them (specially Bandage Toss) for ganking or escaping.
If you keep pushing hard together with your lane partner you will soon or late force an enemy to go back to base, letting you take control over the lane.
Always protect your allied champion with your stun, when the enemies are in a threating position. This is why Amumu is annoying in laning. Because if you hide into the bushes all the time the enemies will always be scared of checking where you are or of attacking your partner.
If you are in a premade with a champion that can jump on the enemy target like Xin Zhao for example you can just wait tills your enemies harrass a bit taking some minion damage to start a fight with your Q at the right moment.
Also, you can play passively, like any other tank, but it is not a good idea because a lot of minions would give you serious problems landing your Q spell in case of need.
By the way it is always difficult to take back control over a lane.

5v5 Jungling:
Amumu is nothing unique while jungling.
As Amumu you will take the satndard jungling minions:
BuffGolem + Wolfs + Wraiths + BuffLizard + Golems + Base + Gank + Restart on BuffGolem.
But because Amumu has a lot of health and armor thanks to your jungle Seal Runes, you can try to steal a buff from the enemy jungler specially if he is an AD champion. Anyways if you manage to get into a little fight you should always check the map for possible enemies incoming, and you should never follow the enemy into the jungle, because Amumu doesn't have any escape ability not knowing if the neutral minions are alive. You can always use your Q through a wall but the map doesn't show if minions on the enemy jungle are alive, and if you run into more enemy champions you have just given a free kill.
For ganking your Q is a fantastic spell and also your passive can help is you are supporting a lane where an allied mage AP champion helps you with the gank( Amumu's passive reduced MagicResistance with his auto attacks).
Anyway, because Amumu doesn't deal much damage at low levels you will get easy kills if you gank together with champions that have a lot of CC.

TeamFights:
In Team Fights (TF) Amumu is a really important champion.
With even only 2 or 3 items you can stand with no problems against the enemy team while your allies are arriving to start the battle. Anyway it is not a good idea jumping in woth your Q unless you are in a premade where you are all prepared. You should have the Q ready for helping your allies.
Because Amumu doesn't have any taunting ability you must use your stuns , and Randuin's Omen if you have it, for helping your allied champions. It is important that you don't waste all of your abily CDs as soon as possible, but that you use them at the right moment. For example it is best to use your ultimate together with someonelse's AOE ultimate. The second possibility for usying your R is to interrupt the battle when it is about to end or when you see that the enemies are about to retreat to their base.
Remember always to keep spamming E, so that you maximize your damage dealt( Sunfire Aegis + Despair + Tantrum).
If you are in a small teamfight(like a 3v3 or a 3v4) you can instead jump in with Q and spam E while activating W. as soon as your allies are in attack range pop your ultimate and win the battle.
In conclusion you should always pay attention to the enemies and use your stuns at the right moment for helping win the battle or for helping an allied champion to run back.

Q-Bandage Toss:
Bandage Toss is the first of Amumu's stuns. It is very powerful since the first levels specially because it has a very long range and teleports Amumu to the target location, but is is a skill shot so you will have to aim with the mouse to choose the direction of the cast.
the best way of aiming is holding the mouse cursor far away from Amumu. In fact, if you are aiming like this it is much more difficult because every little movement of your hand will make the skill direction shake. If you aim with the cursor far away from the starting point of the bandage(far away from Amumu) the shot will be more steady and precise, even if you make some little movements.
Knowing this...
This spell is to be used for ganking, initiating any sort of fight for running into an enemy champion low on HP who is about to retreat and for saving lives.
For ganking and initiating fights is is easy because you just have to aim right into the enemy champion and wait for your team to come and begin the fight.
For running into enemy champions it is more difficult because they will know about your abilities and will maybe run in different directions and/or in bushes. What you need to know is that your Bandage Toss catches anything it finds even a bit more far away than it is supposed to refering to the skill aim picture. If you throu your Q at the very side of an enemy (i'm talking about just some millimeters on your screen) it may catch him even tho the cast was not 100% precise. If you now are about to catch an enemy running away you must try to cast your Q always not too near the wall(if there is one) and never exactly where he was when you last sow him running into a bush. Try to anticipate his movements, crossing his way with ghost if you have picked it as summoner spell, and throwing your Q when you know that this little glitch i told you will help you.
About saving lives with your Q, you must always be prepeared to save any allied champion throwing it right into his face, catching the enemy right behind him and maybe even popping your ulti if you are in a 3v3 and it seems to be an easy kill.
You can also save your own life by jumping on both neutral and non-neutral minions for having great advantages for running from enemies.
The best places from where you can jump as Amumu are the dragon in both 3v3 and 5v5(this puts a lot of distance between you and other champions); neutral minions in bottom jungle in 3v3(both for ganking and for escaping); normal neutral golems in 5v5(they are behind a very long wall).

and "W" and "E":
With Despair and Tantrum you will be performing great in TFs.
Both of them are AOE spells. W has to be applied only once and drains your mana, while E has to be spammed and recharges a bit every time you are hit by an auto attack.
They are a great combination together with other aura items like Sunfire Aegis or Thornmail if you are in a 3v3 full of AD enemies.

"R" Curse of the Sad Mummy:
A very good ultimate. It is bot a damaging AOE spell and an AOE stun with very large range.
You will obviously need to use it when as many enemies as possible are around you, but it has a very long CD so you have to be patient and not spam it as soon as you get into a new fight.
It is possible to use it for ganking single targets but this will only happen in 3v3 games or in early mid-game in 5v5.
If you are in a premade team you can use your R to initiate a TF, but in a solo queue you should hold it for when the battle has begun since a few seconds, so that everyone is in range and you haven't wasted it.
You can also use it if you are about to win a TF and you want nobody to get away from your carry.
In situations where the enemy is about to win you can use your ultimare to stop all the enemies from running into your allies while you will sacrifice. But you are a tank, so nobody will say anything about that. This is called STUN 'N' RUN... even if you are not going to run but you are going to get as much attention as possible.
So in conclusion, the Curse of the Sad Mummy has to be used only for helping your team. Even if you are about to die in the enemy jungle, dont waste it because you'll need it when you respown adn the enemies will push(if the tank dies they will push).

Early Game:
You should try to get some gold yes, but never spam abilities for killing non-neutral minions.
You will need all the mana you have to help your laning partner(if you have one) when he is in trouble and you will have to go into the fight with all of your stuns when the jungler comes for ganking.
Anyways try to play aggrassively as Amumu, because that will help making your opponents unable to farm. Health should never be a problem, specially if you take Teleport as summoner spell and recall back to base when needed. If you do like this you will be able to push all the way to the enemie's tower, recall back and Teleport to lane with good items and full health while your carry has still some control over the lane.

Mid Game:
At this point, when the laning phase is still not at all complete you will have to gank as much as you only can(when you don't have to defend your lane). You can still use your ultimate for single target ganks, even if the teamfights are about to happen this is still time for feeding allied champions and they will need all the help possible.
In late Mid-Game you will also be able to tower dive without any special problem, maybe taking even 4 or 5 tower hits without having to worry about any Karthus or Ezreal.

Late Game:
Now you should really never even think about looking at your R button on the keyboard.
Because you can't escape very easily as Amumu you will never be going alone into the enemy jungle and you should always be checking the map even while you are into your own team's jungle. It is true that if you manage to get all the expensive items of this build you will be very hard to kill but it is still possible to get you down if well focused.
In TFs you should also be strong thanks to Abyssal Mask if you have it. Anyway Amumu is very good in any game phase, but best in end-game. In any 3v3 where you are even just a bit more fed that your enemies you can evn ewin a 1v2 if you know what you do.

Even if all the items i listed are very expensive and gives high stats, your Amumu will not have any kind of regeneration, so in the early game specially in a 5v5 you will need some potions more than you would if you were usying mana/HP regeneration items.
Even if it looks like you are wasting a lot of gold you will have to buy both botions and wards, because your carries will be needing gold for their stuff.

I tried to introduce as much personal stuff as possible into this build because i didn't want to have only items runes and numbers into it.

Amumu Laning and Jungling by Omega2nd - 24 July 2011