Olaf, the Thirsty Viking
Olaf is a AD melee champion whose passive allows him to dish out lots of damage at low health. There are many ways to build Olaf, but the method I use has been very efficient. There are other ways to build Olaf, but if you love coming back from 100 health in a fight, this is the guide for you!


- Olaf is a relatively easy champion to play with. Just as there are many ways to build him successfully, there are also many ways to play him. Some people prefer playing him as a tank, allowing him to dish damage and absorb damage. Others prefer utilizing his passive to an advantage. Those people are similar to me.

Olaf can get kills very easily early game. He's great when paired alongside a support caster like Alistar or Blitzcrank. These support champions greatly improve his killing potential early game because they bring the food to him. Early game, Olaf can burst damage that will leave Veigar gaping with his mouth wide open.

Olaf is not a hero that is easily played if you play heroes that hang out in the back, such as ...

Veigar
Vayne
Graves
Miss Fortune
Nidalee
Morgana
Orianna

There is a succinct reason why people who are used to the listed heroes (and others I have not listed) may struggle with Olaf. Olaf is daring. He is fearless. His very passive gives him entitlements to such praise. For every 1% health missing, he gains 1% attack speed! Imagine if you were down 80% health. Your attack speed has nearly tripled!

Needless to say playing with such low health can be dangerous, but that's when knowing when to engage a fight, and knowing when to back off, comes into play.

All-in-all. If you like a hero that kills many, and a hero that does not fall easily late game, Olaf is a great hero for you.


Pros to Olaf
Amazing burst damage
Hits true damage with Reckless Swing
Great lifesteal capabilities when having items joined with his Vicious Strikes
Awesome ultimate that allows him to be a running tank unaffected by CC for six whole damn seconds.
Cool true damage that no amount of armor can reduce. Great for killing squishies.


Bad Cons
Unless paired up with a support or a ranged champion, you can suffer major harassment from two ranged champions.
No way to chase down enemies unless you hit them with Undertow or Exhaust them
No ranged skills besides Undertow, which is easily dodged by experienced players
Has problems completely dominating a lane until he gets Wriggles

The Thunder King
The skill order listed in this build holds for great burst of damage with Olaf's Reckless Swing and lifesteal with Vicious Strikes. Remember, losing health is a double for Olaf. He does better with lower health!
- This skill is what defines Olaf. Some guides may not take full advantage to that, and that may be building him tanky, while other guides may utilize it, like mine. For every 1% health missing, he gains 1% attack speed. Pretty good, ain't it?

- There's a reason why we only put one into Undertow until end game. It simply does not do the great burst of damage Olaf is capable of. We want more variety on Olaf. And he's got better skills than that, like W and E. The Q (Undertow) is only there to slow our victims so we can finish them off with regular AD and true damage.

- A great move. Really. There's a reason why guides want Olaf tanky. To take advantage of his W. For 6 seconds, Olaf's attack damage is increased by 7 / 14 / 21 / 28 / 35 base damage plus 1% of his max health. While active, Olaf gains 9 / 12 / 15 / 18 / 21% lifesteal and spell vamp. It's a good way to use Olaf, gaining the extra damage. But with our build, true damage will carry our game while we annihilate carries.
- This is Olaf's prime skill that labels him as a king. His true damage. Early game this is just a mind kill. Even mid game it's still a killer. Late game isn't so much, but it is a GREAT perk. Who doesn't want true damage?

Summoner Spells
You may ask why I picked those Summoner spells. In fact, they're not that bad for Olaf either. Let's go over them so I can convince you this is a great selection for Olaf.

- This is an amazing spell on Olaf. Why not flash? Well, no flash because Olaf's ulti makes him a running king. If you can't be hit by CC, I'd expect you'd want to high-tale BOOK it or RUN it into a fight. Flash simply does not extend his ultimate to a full potential. Tell me, if you were un-CCable, would you rather FLASH from a fight, then lose the advantage when they catch up to you, or hit your ulti, which has a short cooldown, and just run it out like a boss? Besides, you're pretty slow. If you were chasing someone down, I'd be you want a few more hits into there instead of your E and one hit.

- A great spell to have on Olaf. Using ghost and exhaust together in one combination will bring down players very quickly. You move faster, they move slower. Everything about them is degraded for a great 3 seconds. GG?


Other Spells
- Only if you're jungling. The build for a jungling Olaf is the same except start with a Vampiric Scepter instead of a Doran's Blade.

- Not the greatest to have on Olaf. Just great for finishing any heroes that seem to slip your grasp. I find Exhaust much better, however.

- Don't talk to me. You have lifesteal. Do you really want to use this spell?

- An okay alternate to Ghost, but I don't see much in it for Olaf. Great spell, nonetheless for any champion.

- If you're solo top lane, you'd probably want to take this spell. Otherwise, don't get it. Great for map control, however.

Everything else is not worth mentioning. If you come talk to me about it, I'll ban you from the Olaf community!

Items

You may wonder why I have such an interesting selection of items. Well, to be honest. I believe that is a great build. Let's run through them.


- This item gives Olaf the early potential he needs. Armor, lifesteal, and the bonus 500 damage percent chance is what he needs to dominate his lane and jungle efficiently.


- Let's face it. AD carries need Berserker Boots. Boots with 25% attack speed are the thing for them!



- Let's face it. Another item that completes most ADs is Trinity Force. The vast amount of stats it gives, joined with Berserker and Wriggles, and any other item in this build is great.



- This is a great item I don't see used as much as any of the others listed up top. It's active is amazing. 50% attack and 20% movement speed is amazing for what it is worth. Plus, you can increase its time of activation by attacking.



- This will give you the lifesteal necessary to make Olaf come back like a boss. I remember when I had 250 hp left, and Warwick comes out to hit me. I was at the other team's base. We were both level 18. He instantly suppressed me and I got out of it using Ragnarok. Seriously, Olaf's ulti makes him make Warwick's ulti look like a cheap ultimate. Then I activated W and with amazing attack speed, I lifestole Warwick all the way until I was full health. It was amazing.

Playstyle
Olaf has a unique playstyle, well at least the way I play him. You can build him tanky and start the team fights, or you can kill off carries at lanes. Your choice. The way I play is very sneaky-like.

You can take any lane you wish. Olaf is not a viable mid. Until you're level 2, don't try to go for outstanding kills. You can do that within the 1:30 of the game by camping in the bush and getting a lucky kill. Otherwise, just farm.

Line up minions with undertow. Throw undertow at any champion foolish to not dodge it. It will tick away their health slowly.

Then when you get to level 2, unleash it. Just farm, then run in the bush, then come out and last hit minions. Once in awhile, run up to a hero from the bushes and hit him with your E. The constant harass potential you have is amazing. Just do this until mid-game.

Mid-game
The gankings start coming in. Start pulling out ganks with undertow. Olaf can't chase well unless his undertow actually hits his target, so you have to aim precisely with it. Teamfights should start kicking in. Wait for one to start then run in from the sidelines and activate your ulti in the process. Activate it BEFORE running it. Kill out any carries and then focus on the tanks. Push lanes, etc.

Late Game
This is interesting. I play Olaf with more sneakiness. I find surprise attacks in the jungle very good for kills. As Olaf, you always want to get Red Buff and sneak a Blue Buff in. It will make you a god. Plant wards with your Wriggle's. It gives great map control. While jungling for buffs after teamfights, you should be able to catch wandering enemy champions looking for some cash from the jungle. If you found them on Wriggle's, then hide in a bush and surprise them. You'll be surprised how much a few seconds of surprise can do for you. Especially late game, this maneuver is very useful. You take out champions and they go on re spawn for 60 seconds, making team fights that much easier.

Team Fights: Like I said, as soon as it initiates, come from the sidelines and kill carries. Activate your ulti and youmuu's and kill off everyone. It will be easy since you cannot be CCed.

CARRIES
Seriously? Olaf excels at 1v1, so the first thing you should do during a teamfight is kill off any carries on the other team. MF, Veigar, Graves, Yi, Tryndamere. You should slaughter them. Easily.

Olaf's E makes it great for its true damage. Slashing that across a carry will make them lose so much health. Combined with your auto-attacks, you can easily slay 2 champions in a team fight within a few seconds. Always, always kill the main DPS in the team fights. You are Olaf. Not a tanky Olaf. A lifesteal Olaf.

Tanks: Leave the tanks alone. Don't target them unless all the carries are dead. You'll be wasting your time. Everyone should know this fact.

Working with your team depends on the people. If they are cooperating or not. This defines winning and losing LoL.

Early game, don't bother asking for ganks unless you're getting slaughtered. It's a waste of precious time that can be used to level. Focus on getting yourself pumped up for a larger fight. This is what defines good players and bad players. Knowing when to gank, and knowing when you are just being greedy.

Mid game is almost the same, except you are involved in much more team fights. Larger battles occur, and people start pushing hard on lanes. Hit, hit, hit from the side while your teammates create diversions in the front. The enemy will be focused on killing the people they see first, they will be on CD when you waltz in and kill everyone.

Late game is pretty much the same as mid game, except now everyone is getting fed and Baron is being taken out. Pushes are much more devastating and deaths make everyone groan. Stay alive, please. Don't get greedy and take on a team of three people. That's not what this Olaf is about. It's about you playing smart and coming in at the right time and killing people off when they don't expect it. Just because you lifesteal like a boss does not mean you can take on three full fledged heroes.

All in all, I believe Olaf is a viable champion up to late game, and can carry a game immensely if played right. Message me about any wins you get with this build! This is my first build, so I am open to criticism, even if I am a little sensitive at first.

Happy killing!

~ LegendXV