Lore

Most men would say that death is a thing to be feared; none of those men would be Olaf. The Berserker lives only for the roar of a battle cry and the clash of steel. Spurred on by his hunger for glory and the looming curse of a forgettable death, Olaf throws himself into every fight with reckless abandon. Surrendering to the bloodlust deep within his being, Olaf is only truly alive when grappling with the jaws of death.

The coastal peninsula of Lokfar is among the most brutal places in the Freljord. There, rage is the only fire to warm frozen bones, blood is the only liquid that flows freely, and there is no worse fate than to grow old, frail, and forgotten. Olaf was a warrior of Lokfar with no shortage of glories and no hesitation to share them. While boasting one evening with his clansmen over the burning embers of a razed village, one of the elder warriors grew tired of Olaf's bluster. The old fighter goaded Olaf to read the omens and see if Olaf's fortunes matched his gloating. Emboldened by the challenge, Olaf mocked the aged raider's envy and tossed the knuckle bones of a long-dead beast to predict the heights of glory he'd achieve in death. All mirth left the gathering as the clansmen read the portents: the bones spoke of a long life and a quiet passing.

Infuriated, Olaf stormed into the night determined to prove the prediction false by finding and slaughtering Lokfar's feared frost serpent. The monster had consumed thousands, man and ship alike, in its long lifetime and to die in battle with it would be a fitting end for any warrior. As Olaf hurled himself into the blackness of its maw, he fell deeper into the blackness of his mind. When the shock of freezing water roused him from the dark, there was only the butchered carcass of the beast afloat beside him. Thwarted but not defeated, Olaf set out to hunt down every legendary creature with claws and fangs, hoping that the next battle would be his last. Each time he charged headlong toward his coveted death, only to be spared by the frenzy that washed over him while on its brink.

Olaf concluded that no mere beast could grant him a warrior's death. His solution was to take on the most fearsome tribe in the Freljord: the ProfileIcon Winter's Claw Winter's Claw. SejuaniSquare.png Sejuani appeared amused by Olaf's challenge to her warband, but his audacity would earn him no mercy. She ordered the charge and sent scores of her warriors to overwhelm Olaf. One by one, they fell until he lost himself in the bloodlust once again, effortlessly cutting a path to the leader of the Winter's Claw. The clash between Olaf and Sejuani rocked the glaciers with its force, and though he seemed unstoppable, Sejuani battled the berserker to a standstill. As they stood deadlocked, Sejuani's glare penetrated Olaf's berserker haze in a way no weapon ever could. His frenzy abated long enough for her to make him an offer: Sejuani swore that she would find Olaf his glorious death if he would lend his axe to her campaign of conquest. In that moment, Olaf vowed he would carve his legacy into the Freljord itself.

"When you meet your ancestors, tell them Olaf sent you."
― Olaf

Olaf is a very strong Champion and has the ability to decimate anybody without having the need to use an ability. [Word of warning: If you find a wild Olaf, NEVER face off against it in a 1. vs 1. situation. Many have tried, none have succeeded]

What matters on an Olaf are his auto-attacks. Which means that having a Teemo with its Blinding Dart on your team could leave an Olaf struggling. Olaf also requires some skill to play especially when it comes to landing those Q's. Once you're hit with any of of Olaf's Q's, you can pretty much stand there and take defeat like a man whilst he smashed your face in and absorbs your soul like the viking he is.

Here's a run-down on why certain runes are chosen for Olaf.

Armour Penetration
Armour penetration may not seem so hot when it comes to laning but it does affect everything Olaf does since he has no AP scaling skill. Everything Olaf does to an opponent is physical and thus, if an enemy builds defensively, Olaf could have a hard time striking them down. Furthermore, once a portion of the laning phase has finished, Olaf can get his Long Sword and Pickaxe to deal 35 bonus damage and once the Tiamut has been built, the AOE damage will greatly benefit Olaf with his life-stealing, because minions around the target or other champions around the target will also have their lives leeched.

Attack Speed
Attack speed is relatively important when it comes to a face-off against another AD champion like Jax. Whoever can attack the other faster and deal more damage whilst stealing life; come out the victor.

Magic Resist
Olaf may not very much Magic resist ult he gets his Ultimate or starts building the Spirit Visage (Depending on the situation) in the beginning of the round. So he's against a mage champion like diana, he'll have a slight advantage by taking slightly less damage form AP attacks.

Overview
Olaf is a berserker that has it's focus on leeching health off his enemy and wrecking havoc whilst maintaining his sturdiness as a tank. His defenses are moderate whereas his health and life-steal rates are relatively high.

Offensive
Offensively, Olaf's masteries are allocated to focus on Olaf's attack speed as well as slight damage-output to maximise his Life-stealing potential.

Defensive
Olaf and his defenses at Pre-6 aren't spectacular so having a little bit beefier defenses to start off with is never a bad idea and as a bonus, some of the masteries that buff Olaf's defenses scale for his future defenses.

Utility
Not much to say here other than a slight increase i speed to chase down enemies and wipe them from Runeterra history.

Olaf has a lot of possible Item choices for example adding a Sunfire Cape to damage the opponents near him to kill them faster and increase his bulkiness against AD champions. There are many items that can be used for Olaf and they all have their significant uses depending on what kind of game the meta is spotting for that round.

Here are some items that I'll be giving a description on of how they may benefit Olaf
Frozen Mallet
The health bonus as well as the slight attack increase is a very nice touch to a great item for a berserker that chases his opponents. The passive of the item which slows down an opponent by 40% every 1.5 seconds is undoubtedly useful in a situation when chasing an opponent.

Maw of Malmortius
Passives are always nice because you don't need to think of activating the item or ability. The Maw of Malmortus has a very nice passive that grants any champion that has the item with a shield that absorbs damage for a certain amount of time and has a relatively low cooldown. The Item is especially useful when the enemy thinks they can finish you off.. until the items' shield activates and they're dead that is.

Phage
Again, Passives are great, especially when you get rewarded some bonus speed for hitting an enemy with your basic attacks. The only downside to this item is that it can only be built into the Trinity Force on Summoners Rift. Which gives Olaf 30 AP. (Olaf has absolutely no AP scaling). Although the passive's of the item are relatively useful, it is expensive to build.

Blade of the Ruined King
The Blade of the Ruined King has always been an impressive and relatively over-powered weapon with its active. However, Olaf doesn't actually require the active because he heals so much damage that it becomes quite ridiculous. The Zephyr's passive is very useful because it reduces the effects of many skills and items coming from the enemy against Olaf and allows him to reach them faster and take back the life that they attempted to remove from Olaf.

Going Ham
There isn't a set way to allocate the skill points on Olaf, it's just a matter of HOW you play him. If you play Olaf in a matter that makes him take a lot of damage, then allocating his skill points into his W skill would be very useful due to the increased life-steal from the ability. Although allocating at least 1 point in his Q skill will allow Olaf to slow the enemy down.

Early Advantage
This is the method that I play and the one shown in the "Skills" section. Harassing the enemy as much as possible in the beginning of the round will allow Olaf to not only potentially get first blood but will also zone the enemy from attacknig you which allows Olaf to farm relatively peacefully without having to worry about getting poked by the enemy and missing cs. And once Olaf has enough gold for his Tiamut, he should be able to start doing massive damage to the enemy champion becuse they've only been able to farm under the tower and whilst Olaf was gone to buy the Tiamut itself.

Pro's +
- High Damage output throughout game
- Tanky Overall
- Faster than most enemy Champions (Beaten by: (With Skills Master Yi, Teemo, Dr.Mundo, Ahri), Miss Fortune)
- Can potentially fully heal by farming any jungle monster
- Manliness & Beard

Cons -
- Susceptible to Slows
- Relies on Q to land to slow enemies
- Must have sight on enemy and has a hard time against invisible enemies.

With an Olaf
When there's an Olaf on the same team or when playing Olaf; if the Olaf is tanky enough, Olaf can engage team fights and deal a huge chunk of damage. Especially when he has his ultimate activated which prevents Olaf from being affected by and Crowd Control ailments.

Olaf can also 1. Vs 1. opponents without breaking a sweat so long as it's not an entire team against a single Olaf.

Olaf chases his opponents very well and can slow down an enemy with his Q which can be picked up to reduce the cooldown of his Q by 4 seconds. The length of the slow is affected by how far the axe is thrown. The farther the axe is thrown, the longer the slow duration lasts. However, it is recommended to throw the axes at the enemy directly to reduce the cooldown time of the Q to throw it back out at the enemy again to slow them once more. (This is more efficient when slowing an enemy).

Against Olaf
When going against an Olaf, try not to pee your pants because it is still possible to beat an Olaf. It's just rather difficult. Before Olaf reaches level 6, he is susceptible to slows and stuns. That means that if a stun or slow is landed perfectly, then followed up by a flurry of damage, Olaf can have a difficult time laning.
The same can be done after Olaf reaches level 6 but you'll have to be a lot more cautious because his ultimate eliminates any current effects (Excluding silences) and prevents him from being affected by any status ailments for the next couple seconds. Which means that if activates his ultimate, RUN! Once his ultimate runs out, then stun or slow him and constantly inflict a flurry of damage whilst staying cautious. He can still catch up to you if he lands his axe and starts hitting you after activating his W.

During Team-Fights, Olaf should be the main target of interest, then the adc because olaf is a lot more dangerous than the adc due to his Q. His Q goes right though his opponents which means that he can slow down an entire team with a single axe if the conditions are met. Also, Olaf will most probably have his Tiamut or Hydra which makes him significantly more dangerous as he takes life from anything surrounding his target. The adc will onlt be able to focus a single target which makes them less dangerous in comparison to Olaf.

The Skill combination for majority of the cases go as following:
Q,E,R,W,Q,E

The Ultimate isn't neccesary when it comes to mowing down some opponents but if you need to to go against opponents such as Leona in order to counter her stuns, then it won't hurt to use it.

Olaf's Life-steal component during his mid to late game can completely heal him for all his health by activating his 'W' on jungle monsters or on minions.