Hi i'm Cantagallo and this is my first guide on Mobafire.
You could be come here looking for another boring support Taric guide.THIS IS NOT.
I am here to show you my try as Taric hybrid (AP/AD) Top duo laner / Solo top.
I am not a native english speaker, that's why you could encounter some grammar error, you are welcome on correcting me.
Also downvotes are welcome if contain constructive criticism, because all i want is to improve this guide game by game, surely even with your help.
Remember that i'm not what you call a "pro" player, since that i am playing LOL from 3 or 4 months and i've reached 30 level a few weeks ago. So don't jump on ranked with this build,and don't come back here yelling every screw that you could remember (SK OCELOTE featured = more cancer-rager) without taking confidence in normal game.
Just open your mind and read down all the guide, and if you'll think it's viable like i do, please give it a try and come here to feedback me.

Some interesting quote from his lore :


...He wanted to help the people, but not by simply salving their wounds and curing their woes. He wasn't to be a healer, but a defender - one who used the power of earth to preserve and protect.....As Taric's father taught him, every stone has its meaning. For Taric's enemies, they all mean trouble.

So he want to be different from the father, and not only in sexual habits. Not a healer but a defender.
So let's defend TOP lane from the enemies.

space

Pros + // Funny to play. + // Underestimated often. + // Armor of the fifth age will let you be underestimated more. + // Great sustain = forever in lane.

space

space

Cons - // You will start to overestimate yourself. - // Focused often late game. - // Weak early game. - // No great escape mechanism. - // A bit squishy without right item.

Just gave a first look at this champion, I started to play as a support for bot (and actually take it, if I want to support).
As soon as I understood better his skills, I began to think of playing solo top lane.

Escape not really great A wild jungler appears? Stun him and run or ... ... FLASH AWAY ... still not enough? stop them definitively!!

Sustain BEST Spam able heal = try to turret dive me (trollface) Free mana regen = spam more abilities Free cloth armor ( free chain vest later) + = more more more sustain

Synergy with the jungler GODLIKE Stun them ... ... shred their armor ... ... boost your team stats ... ... rip off their armor again

It seemed so obvious to me that I did not want to talk about.
But i want to make a good guide and jhoijhoi said "Explain every single choice you make...." ...

Every single skill of TARIC improves melee fight, and they stack on AP

That's why.
You should read more about his abilities if you don't agree.


This is so good passive. Not too much to explain. You will recover 7.5% of your auto attacks' damage as mana.


No defensive core item ?? That's why. A (60/100/140/180/220 + 60% of AP)+ 40% -if used on yourself- spam able heal. Melee attack synergy well with this ability, because auto attack will reduce the cooldown of 1 second per hit (3 second for EVERY hit on enemie's champions!!! )


Armor for free. Max it first not too much to discuss about. This skill will buff you giving real sustain and make you tough like a Malphite...Joking ... not like Malphite, but it gives a very nice buff and...


...BUUM the gems explode in to their faces shredding their armor of 10/15/20/25/30 for 4 second, and at same time it deals a little burst of area damage, something like 60/105/150/195/240 + 60% of your AP. So we can call Shatter our bread and butter litteraly, because here we have a buff, a magic damaging tool, and really it gives you more ''armor penetration'' for free. Use it wisely, because when you use the "active Shatter", the aura part of it will disappear.


Here comes the stun. It is really similar to 's one if you use it on the close enemy. However, if the target gets further away, it will deal less damage (zombies always win). Don't worry, it will last 1.5 seconds for sure ,and it has a greater range than sion's stun, this is enough to get their hp pool destroyed!! Expecially 2 vs 2. You can use it for different purposes: to stop an enemy on the run, or to stop an enemy on your tail, and has other goals.


Last but not least .... your ulti. It will turn the tides of every fight. From level 6 ... to late teamfight. Deadly : it will boost your AD and AP by 30/50/70 for 10 second. And this buff is apllied also for your ally. GREAT ULTI FOR A HYBRID FIGHTER. In addition, this ability will deal (150/250/350 + 70% of ability power) magic area damage.






Take the when the game starts because it let you zone your enemy very well, preventing them to take some last hit. Then take , and at level 3 put one point on .
From now on max as much as you can Shatter. Obviously you have to improve at level 6 - 11 - 16. I choose to max Imbue after Shatter because the damage on Dazzle is never too big. So it is better to have a greater healing in mid game.

I think this is the best order of skills.
<< << <

At the moment i'm playing with this runes. This not means that no other runes is viable. On the contrary i think that i will test more runes.
So let's see my current runeset :

• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: // Early boost to your heal and damage tool.
  
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: // Armor Penetration will be guaranteed on your skills. So i chose Magic Penetration marks. This will give more burst ability.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: // Flat magic resistance will help you countering Hybrid solo top like Jax,Akali,and full AP.
• Greater Seal of Armor: // More armor, more tankyness.

NEW MASTERIES COME OUT THIS MORNING. THIS SECTION WILL BE REWORKED

The nine points on offence tree are great, because they synergize well with passive/imbue/shatter/radiance.WONDERFUL.

• Boost your exhaust for more armor and magic penetration.
• It's easier to kill minion
• Attack speed will reduce faster imbue's cooldown and you will make the best of Shatter and Radiance (buff for 4 sec and for 10 sec).
• GEM GEM GEM GEM more armor penetration for you. NICE.

21 points on defence help you to stay longer in fight through all the game.

• More Magic Resistance.You want it.
• More Armor. Most of solo top counter will deal physical damage.
• More HP early game ...and mid game...and late game :D
• More HP regen. It lets you stay longer in lane.
• It reduces the damage by 2. Sometimes it happens that you ran away with 3 or 4 hp, it never happened to you? You should thank this mastery.
• Another little HP boost in early game.
• It reduces damages from area spell.
• It gives tankyness.
• UOOOOA 3% more HP and it decreases the enemies' CC.YOU DESERVE IT.

This is mine current Mastery set. With this i play a defensive game, and this turn me into a unturretdiveble , and master at turretdiving.
I think that also 21 9 0 is viable (The ad tree and ap tree equally) and will fit better on aggressive players.
Warning : this will turn the game in hard mode, and you into a squishy one.
30 0 0 probably is viable for custom games. Maybe.

Great spell as escaping and chasing tool. Take advantage of jumping over walls.


Great synergy with your skillset, remember that the point in summoner's wrath
will improve its power. More recommended than flash.






You could use it instead of flash. You will have the chasing and escaping tool that u needed.
This ability is enhanced by Summoner's wrath as for exhaust. Shorter cooldown than Flash.




So underestimated spell! This spell is crazy; this spell will erase the disability
from which you suffer, and it will decreases future disability... it fit better on
Swain , Dr.Mundo or Tryndamere, but is always good if you are facing an hard CC team.



The enemies will never run out from a fight with 50 hp or less.
Secure-kill for aggressive players.

NEW ITEMS COME OUT THIS MORNING. THIS SECTION WILL BE REWORKED

Early game of hybrid Taric is not the best phase. You have to play safe until you get some damage and more sustain. WARD please, never forget this. Warding is the road to victory,and it's a complicated topic to discuss here, look for another discussion.
Like this.

Don't overextend your lane and let the enemies to make mistakes.

What happens if you overextend You could die easier if top lane is 2 vs 1. Your jungler cannot set up an useful gank. Their jungler will come to kill you for sure.

What happens if you play in safe zone You get EXP and gold from safe zone. Your jungler can set up deadly ganks. Their jungler become useless.

This is the moment when you become a killing machine. Now you have a lethal combo and the Master of arms Jax will say "gj" to you. Don't stop warding. You have to move on the map looking for a kill, when is possible. Help your jungler in counter jungling.
When you've built , and situational boots x2 ( viable boots = you have to choose yourself your last 3 items, depending on the opposite team and depending on how the game is going .

A good item will give to you :

• Attack speed Synergizes with abilities.
• HP / Armor / Magic Resist You don't want a glass cannon (HIGLY SITUATIONAL, you may need one of these types or even 3 objects of this type, choose wisely).
• More AP/AD (ex. )More Damage.

Bad items will give :

• Mana You don't need mana.If you deal damage you will never run out of mana.
• Only AP (ex. )You are not the Mage carry.

Late game is when lane is abandoned and get suddendly pushed by one or two.The rest of the team remains united and defends mid or attacks the enemy base.
And surely will rain teamfights ( according to Taric there was a better time when rained men).

Now you have to position well yourself, pushing wisely, boosting your team in teamfights, helping allies in trouble.
Seems that nothing is changed from the support Taric.
The real change is damage output. Now you have a potential offensive that will scare the enemy and make you one of the first targets.
You have to use wisely the stun to stop some freak ulti, like , , and more others.
Jump on squishy when possible.
Take control over Baron with sight wardand .

This chapter has been written entirely by Xenotechie, I can not do better than this. Thank you man.

His sustain depends on his abiliy to last hit champions, so zone him out. Never mistake him for a tank like Rammus, he has a lot of burst damage, and magic burst damage at that. If he maxes his Q first, then most of his damage is reliant on hitting it. Dodge it and attack while it's on cooldown, then run. If he maxes W first, expect a lot of harrasment. Again, try to make him waste it, then move in while it is on cooldown. If he maxes his E first, you will want to get the help of your jungler, as the magic damage component of his damage goes straight through your Shatter aura. He will behave like a more standard solo top, requiring to go into melee range to do a lot of damage, so use that to your advantage.




While all his abilities except his passive and ultimate do physical damage, he will still likely come out ahead of you in 1v1 if you are not careful. His one big weakness, however, is his lack of an escape mechanic. Therefore, if you attack him with your jungler, he will likely fall down hard. If he fails early game, he won't be able to do a lot but kill steal late game.



Similar case as with Cho'Gath maxing his E first,but worse. Very beefy and his abilities deal magic damage. However, he is suspectible to ganks. The key to winning a lane with Dr. Mundo in it is dodging his cleavers. Either hide behind minions, or get early Boots of Speed, or both.



Her kit is built around 1v1...with pure AD champions. You are not one. While a gank from your jungler would be nice, especially after she uses her dashes, you can still beat her 1v1 if you are careful. If you see her activating Riposte, you might want to burst her down then, wait for it to wear off (it lasts the same as your stun)), then start beating on her with your autoattacks. If she uses her ultimate and you are near your tower, endure it and move to your tower, then stun her and enjoy the tower being your AD carry substitute.



While all his abilities are based on physical damage, sans his ulti, he still deal quite a lot of early game damage. If he is building AD, place special emphasis on trying to zone him out, as AD Garen is very gold reliant. As of off tank Garen, you just need to survive the laning phase and early mid game and you can laugh as his usefulness starts falling off rapidly. Whatever his build is, your strategy should be to use your abilities while his stuff is on cooldown. A gank from a jungler is nice too.



Your main priority with Jax is to outlast him and deny him farm. He has quite annoying abilities for 1v1, thanks to the magic damage component of his Empower and ultimate. Your best bet is to play it safe, but scaring him off minions. If he tries something, you want to stun him just befor he leaps or in the middle of his leap to you, as Jax players tend to go for a Leap Strike + Empower combo. If you stun him, you effectively deny him 2 abilites. If he activates his dodge, just burst him down and stun him if you can.



He's annoying. He deals primarily magic damage and he will stack armor thans to his Ground Slam. He is an anti-AD champion, like Jax. However,you are not pure AD. Your burst will do a lot of damage to him and shred his armor, actually lowering his damage too. Your best bet is to bring him down with your jungler. Note that his ultimate cannot be stopped by anything except his death, so don't waste your stun if he starts charging.



Whatever you do, DO NOT LET HIM FARM HIS Q. He will snowball out of control if you do. Zone him out, harass him, gank him, doesn't matter,just don't let him farm his Q. Thankfully, Nasus is not really strong early game. He will likely get his Spirit Fire as an utility spell, trying to zone you out. However, at level 1, it only deals 110 magic damage if you take the initial magic damage AND stand it it for 5 seconds. The only dangerous part of it is armor shredding. If he can't farm his Q, you effectively get a 4v5 scenario late game.



He has a lot of armor, can even get magic resistance up with his Defensive Ball Curl], has a powerful taunt... but he can't do anything to you alone. Get an early ward and you just countered [[Rammus. Also, don't towerdive him. EVER.



He deals high physical damage, which is naturally countered by your armor. The key to winning a lane against him is watching his rage bar. The moment his rage bar goes over 50, that is, half of it, he will likely go into offensive. Keep that in mind and try to atack him while his rage is low, as he has very bad sustain. His ultimate is extremely powerful early game, so make him waste it by baiting him or whatever.



He has great jungler synergy, so an early ward is a good idea. However, he can still destroy you o his own if you are not careful. His taunt makes your attack do 50% less damage to him for the duration, and he has quite a lot of magic burst damage. Your best bet is to attack him while his Ki Strike is on cooldown, then run. Oh, yeah, don't towerdive him.



As far as damage and armor go, very similar to Malphite, but has a lot better jungler synergy compared to him. An early ward is a good idea. If you fight him 1v1, your best bet is to just make him waste his Fling by running in such a way that it is useless or actually hinders him. Your best bet is attacking him with a jungler, though. His Poison Trail can accidentally kill a lot of your minions, helping you immensely.



His priorities are getting farm and getting kills to snowball out of control. DON'T LET HIM. His kit is based around getting crits and making them count, so expect an early Infinity Blade. Try to zone him out, but avoid attacking without assistance, because you will get hit hard. You are still pretty strong against him thanks to your armor and heal, but he will take you out if he gets lucky enough. Don't make mistakes.

Of special note is Tryndamere using Duff's Competitive Tryndamere guide. The best counter to it is knowing it, so read it if you are having trouble with him.



My personal archnemesis. Deal with him similarily to Singed, but note that Fling is an activated ability, while Rolling Thunder is an on hit effect, so a stun stops him dead in his tracks. His main damage comes from Frenzy, so try to avoid it and remind you AD carry to build Madred's Bloodrazor if he becomes a threat. Again, you want the help of your jungler, as Volibear doesn't have too effective escape.



You will never beat him 1v1. His damage has a strong magic damage component and he has strong sustain thanks to his Q and passive. He's about as close thing to a counter you get... until you count in your jungler. Warwick can only run using flash or Blood Scent if one of you is below 50% health, so he is extremely suspectible to ganks.



Your strategy depends on what skill does he max first. If he maxes Undertow first, expect a lot of harassment and get Boots of Speed as fast as possible. Deny him his axes with your stun and zoning and you should do well. If he maxes Reckless Swing first, your main concern is not getting too close to him. If you see him running towards you, stun him and back out. He will zone you out here and probably push a lane. You want that. You especially want early ganks from your jungler, as he doesn't have any escapes pre-6. Note that Olaf gets more attack speed the weaker he is, courtesy of his passive, so you might want to save your stun if you can.



He deals mixed physical/magic damage, so he is a problem with that alone.Player mostly use Tiger Stance when they solo top with this guy, so keep that in mind. That means high single target damage, so, naturally, you want your jungler to help. As Udyr is completely melee-centric, you can see when he will attack you, so use your stun when he starts running towards you.



He's Harass: The Champion. Thanks to his ghouls, he is incredibly powerful, too. Worst of all, a lot of his damage is magic. His weaknesses are mana and lack of escapes, with the sole exception of his Decaying Ghoul, and even he is only a mediocre slow. Your best bet is outsustaining him, thenganking him while he is low on mana, prefferably while he has overextended.



After all these magic damage tops, she is a relief. However, that does not make you a counter to her. She has exceptional mobility, as her abilities are an AoE stun, a triple lunge and a dash, so your best bet when trying to gank her is to force her so waste her abilities before the gank. Besides that, she is fairly easy, as your natural armor will mitigate a lot of her damage, and your skill combos should weaken her significantly.



His damage is mostly physical in nature, so your Shatter passive should mitigate a lot of it. The key to defeating him lies in knowing his abilities. His gap closer is Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike which relies on him landing his Sonic Boom, so early Boots of Speed might be a good idea. His dash and main escape ability is Safeguard / Iron Will, which needs a target minion or ally, so, if trying to gank, do it away from minion waves. His slow is Cripple, which, again, relies on land an ability, Tempest / Cripple. In short, your best bet is exploiting the nature of his abilities and attacking while he is unable to run.



She mostly deals physical damage, with the exception of her Hiten Style, which deals true damage. While this makes her damage easy to mitigate, it does not make her any easier. She has great sustain and early game damage, which doesn't fall off later if she has a good early game, so your best bet is shutting her down early with the help of ganks. Thanks to her passive, she has 25% base tenacity assuming a 2v1 gank from your jungler, so take that into consideration. You want to gank her away from your minions, to deny her escape via Bladesurge. Note that she is also item dependent, so try to zone her out if possible to deny her farm.



Like most other Demacian champions, he has a powerful early game, but falls off later, so your main goal is surviving early game and possibly zoning him out. Thanks to him dealing mostly physical damage and your sustain, that is fairly easy. You want to avoid any autoattack harassment from him because of his passive, Martial Cadence. Note that his Demacian Standard has a passive component that gives Jarvan all the bonuses from the flag's aura whetever he is near it, so it's only purpose while he is alone is escaping. If you want to try a gank, try while the flag is on cooldown.



While he deals primarily magic damage through his abilities, his weakness is his long cooldowns at early levels. Gank or harass while his stuff is on cooldown and you should be able to deal significant damage. Try to trick him into wasting his abilities by faking agression.



His kit is built around physical damage harassment, in other words, something you counter really well. This is a champion for which an early Vision Ward is a good idea if you intend to be agressive and call for early ganks, as a well placed one counters his Decoy extremely well. Otherwise, just burst him down whenever he tries to make a move on you, Exploit his mistakes and you will do well.



This guy is a true counter to this build. He deals high magic damage through his abilities AND has a good escape mechanism in his slow skillshot, which can slow both you and your jungler AND his speed increasing shield. Not all is lost if you face him, tho, for Rumble's greatest enemy is himself. It takes a lot of skill to play him properly, keeping heat in the danger zone, but not overheating. Force him to make mistakes. Force him to use abilities. Your best bet is ganking while he has overheated.



Your main problem while dealing with her is Burnout. You do not want to get close to her while her abilites are off cooldown, as she replenishes them by auto attacking. Try to force her to accidentally push her lane via Burnout, then gank while her stuff is on cooldown. She doesn't have any escape pre-6, so I reccomend early ganks.



Your best friends are Boots of Speed and your minions in this matchup. If she can't hit her Javelin Toss / Takedown, she can only set up traps and heal , and possibly auto attack harass, which is fairly uneffective. Try to keep a minion between you and her at all times. If you want to harass, do it during the 6 second cooldown of Javelin Toss / Takedown. Early ganks are a good idea, as, again, she doesn't have any methods to escape pre-6.



He's a rare breed, a magic resist tank. His main sources of damage are magic damage skillshots, so early Boots of Speed are a good idea,as always. Most of your damage will come from your auto attacks, making your Shatter best used for the armor shredding effects. Zoning is not too important as he is a tank, and therefore, not reliant on gold. Try to gank him while his Righteous Gust is on cooldown, as it is his main escape skill.



He's what I call a sustained AD fighter. His battle strategy is simply outlasting you in a 1v1 scenario thanks to his Fracture and dealing enough damage to kill you. Fortunately, he's physical damage based, so that shouldn't be a problem for you. A good idea might be to make him start fighting you 1v1 and get your jungler to intervene, likely picking up a kill. Just don't towerdive him post level 6, at least while his ultimate is off cooldown.



The two words that describe him are slippery and bastard. You stunned him? Nope, Remove Scurvy. Fortunately, he can't do a lot to you expect escape and farm creeps with Parrrley. Try to zone him out and gank after he eats oranges.

So you've come so far and you've read all my gayde on Hybrid Taric.
I really appreciate that and want to thank you.
Actually this guide is still under testing. So you could notice some changes during the time. I will add later a chapter for guide's versions .
I will appreciate also a feedback, because it took a long time to write this guide
in a fair format...and this reminds me that i have to say THANK YOU to JhoiJhoi for his work in writing such a piece of masterpiece like making-a-guide.

Another big thanks goes to Mogul who has always encouraged me to be better with his troll's habits, shouting at me "NNOOOOBS" on skype every single fault i did.

---->> 07 July 2012 : Guide published.
---->> 08 July 2012 : Thanks to Xenotechie, I found many grammar errors and I have them corrected. Now I hope that there are not any more.
---->> 09 July 2012 : Added nice banners for chapters; made by me, I took inspiration from a work of LaCorpse.
---->> 13 July 2012 : Add common Match-ups chapter.I will never thank Xenotechie enough.
---->> 15 July 2012 : Fixed layout.



---->> Coming soon : a new and more detailed item section.
---->> Coming soon : ??????