Rammus is a great tank jungler who provides snowball potential, through potent early game ganks, utility in forms crowd control for both locking down enemy carries and peeling for your own,as well as good catch and engage potential with Powerball and Frenzying Taunt

Season 8 has changed up the rune system, but this build tries to take advantage of these new runes and maintain a lot of strengths rammus had before.

Why precision over resolve for primary tree:
Precision gives you a lot of attack speed with your secondary rune slots (18%)which is roughly how much you got in previous seasons. It also allows for the Press the attack Keystone which i like more than the aftershock or other resolve masteries, because it allows you to do a bit of damage, while also leaving enemies you attack vulnerable to more damage taken.

Triumph:
I like this rune because it's useful in team fights, for its heal can save you and let you snowball a fight with just a kill or two

Alacrity:
Great mastery for beefing up you attack speed and has synergy with press the attack and BoRK

Coup de Grace[/u]:
This rune has good synergies with press the attack, because after you're attacking someone for long enough, you will do bonus damage, on top of the press the attack bonus damage.

Unflinching:
Gives a lot of tenacity, this is especially good when trying to flash on a target and then comboing in for a taunt
Iron skin:
Gives armor which gives you a bit of bonus AD, and also adds to your healing from Blade of the Ruined King and Spirit Visage.

Lets get into some pros and cons to Rammus

Pros:
-Scales hard into late game
-Deadly early ganking potential
-Ultimate, Soaring Slam, does damage to structures (i.e turrets, inhibitors, nexus)
-lockdown on important targets in team fights (adc or apc) via displacement of Powerball and Frenzying Taunt
-Has instant peel via taunt
-can get back on the map quickly via to powerball
-Can snowball lanes easily
-good against a lot of team comps and of course ADCs and Assassins
-strong ganking power from level 3 on

Cons:
-vulnerable to early game, high damage dealers such as Lee Sin and Pantheon
- hard to win if you fall behind a lot
-telegraphed engages
- meh clear speed
-vulnerable to crowd control when all-inning(explains in masteries and items how to minimize these effects)

Would recommend-
Ghost- great with Rammus's Q and early game Turbo Chemtank pick up

Smite- mandatory for jungling no questions asked

Flash- better for ganking and getting picks but not as good in team fights as ghost

Passive: Spiked Shell- Rammus' basic attacks deal 8-20 (at levels 1-13) (+10% armor) bonus magic damage.

Q: Powerball- powerball is a utiity and damage spell for Rammus. When first launching the ability, Rammus will start spinning, increasing his speed over seven seconds gaining 25 - 39.2 (based on level)% bonus movement speed per second over the duration, up to a maximum of 150 - 235 (based on level)% bonus movement speed. As you level up powerball, the base magic damage will go up by 50 at each level. After Rammus collides with an enemy champion, minion, or jungle creep they are slowed for 1 seconds after impact increasing from 40% to 80% at level 5
Cool Down: 16/13.5/11/8.5/6 seconds
Mana Cost: 60/ 65/ 70/ 75/ 80
Magic Damage on Hit: 100/135/170/205/240 (damage scales with 100% Ability Power)
Knockback Distance: 100
Slow: 20/25/30/35/40%
Caution- you cannot activate Puncturing Taunt while in powerball

W: Defensive Ball Curl- Rammus enters a defensive stance for 6 seconds increasing his magic resistance and armor by 40/60/80/100/120 depending on the level. While this is up Rammus returns 15/25/35/45/55 (+10% of Rammus's armor) magic damage to enemies or creeps who hit him with basic attacks.
Cool Down: 6 seconds
Mana Cost:40

Tip: when taking down a turret, inhibitor, nexus or even cs-ing, make sure to have Defensive Ball Curl active as much as possible to deal more damage that target due to the ability adding to your armor, and your passive converting that armor into attack damage. It gives you more armor which then then gives you attack damage from your passive.

Caution- If an enemy basic attacks you under turret while Defensive Ball Curl is active, it will register the enemy champion being hurt and start targeting you.

Caution- Defensive Ball Curl- will be canceled if you use Powerball

E: Frenzying Taunt- Rammus taunts an enemy champion or jungle monster, gaining attack speed for a short duration which can be prolonged by use of either your W or R and forcing them to attack Rammus for however long the duration of the taunt is based on level.
Attack Speed buff- 20%/ 25%/ 30%/ 35%/ 40%
Duration of taunt- 1.25/1.5/1.75/2/2.25 seconds
Range- 325
Cool Down- 12
Mana Cost- 50
Tip: Use taunt under allied towers to force the enemy to attack you thus resulting in making them take turret shots. You can also use this to fish out people from under enemy turret due to the mechanic where the enemy must follow you in order to use basic attacks against you.

R: Soaring Slam- Rammus creates an earthquake around him for 5 seconds doing damage over time to champions, monster, minions within 300 distacnce of Rammus.

Damage- 40/ 80/ 120 (+20% Ability Power) magic damage per second (does double damage to turret
Cool Down- 100/ 80/ 60 seconds
Slow: 8%/ 10%/ 12% slows stack with every second an enemy is in tremor range stacking up to 64%/ 80%/ 96%
Mana- 100 mana

Note: Tremors does not hinder Rammus's other abilities or movement. Tremors also does damage to structures and is on a very short cool down so don't be timid to use it when trading or when knocking down objectives.

I recommend always starting bottom side of the map for a leash. Depending on what side youre on than you will skill your abilities differently. If you start out on blue buff, then start w and then get your e and take gromp and wolves then get your q.

If you start red buff then you shoud start w, get q seond take raptors, wolves, get e and then get blue, and then gank or then get gromp.

Make sure to always match e first for better clear and ganking.

Now that we're finished exploring the ins and outs of our Armordillo friend, lets get to some in game stuff about him. In the following chapters you will learn quality jungle routes, gank strategies, about the item build, and when to use the situational items listed above.

Ah another update to the guide... Anyways, here's a run down on how to use your double Smite charges. this will go for Rammus as well as other junglers.

In the beginning of the game you are of going to buy a Hunter's Talisman to help in your jungle. Due to the damage from your w, you get the health steal for each auto from the monsters when you have Defensive Ball Curl , this is superior to Hunter's Machete. But the second and third back is where things get interesting. Planning on ganking is a good thing to do early due to your high base utility, so get Stalker's Blade on your first back. If the opposing team has a strong pick comp (e.g. Blitzcrank, Thresh, LeBlanc, Annie) or basically a team with high, single target damage,and crowd control spells, you should opt for the Tracker's Knife, granting you green wards for you and your team. And if their team has a strong melee threat like Xin Zhao, Master Yi ,or Yasuo consider getting Skirmishing Saber


Managing smite charges in the jungle: When using Stalker's Blade make sure to always keep 1 charge for farming your jungle and 1 open for ganking or a skirmish. Note that if you have 2 stacks on smite, and use 1 stack, it goes on a 15 second cooldown before able to use the second stack so plan accordingly. Now in season 7 your smites come up less frequently, thus the reason i prefer the cool down reduction of summoners over the armor buff in the masteries.


Backing- if you are about to back while using Stalker's you can feel free to use the final charge of Smite so long as the next charge is half way done. This gives you enough time to back and have 1 charge up by the time you enter to farm your jungle, gank a lane, or join up in a team fight or skirmish.

Red smite/ Skirmisher's Saber- this is my favorie smite on rammus, its good for early fighting with the on hit true damage as well as utility late game with its damage reduction to whomever is smited... smote... i dont know.
Tracker's Knife- this smite is strong for easy, cheap, and consistent vision control. Get this if you are being harrassed or invaded on by an early game jungler.
Blue smite/ Stalker's Blade- good for ganking lanes, lacks utility in late game compared to red smite

Aight so this new (old now) thing is freaking beastly and a gift to all tank junglers in patch 5.22. This formally juggernaut enchant now gives a built in sunfire cape, still great early health, as well as 15% bonus health which is great to scale into late game with.

Shortly after getting your base jungle item i would highly recommend rushing Bami's Cinder asap. it boosts your clear speed and adds a bit more damage in early scraps as well.

In season 8 red and blue buffs spawn significantly earlier than before (by 10 seconds, at 1:30), which doesn't seem too significant, but with a decent leash you can be finished with the first few camps and be ready to gank.

I always recommend starting bot side, because you can get a strong leash via the two extra people there from your team, security against invades (there's strength in numbers), as well as you gain the possibility of getting buffed by your support such as a Janna , Lulu, or even heals from someone like Nami.

On blue team i recommend this path:
Red Buff -> Raptors/ Birds -> Wolves -> Blue Buff -> Gromp
On Red team i recommend this path:
Blue Buff -> Gromp-> Wolves-> Raptors/ Birds-> Red Buff-> Krugs

When on Red side you can do a full clear, this will bring you to level 4 and 3/4, however on blue side it will only get you to level 4, however the clear on blue side is quicker due to not doing the very time consuming Krugs.

Clearing birds: Get in the middle of the camp, Powerball, wait a split second to let the birds attack you, then use your Defensive Ball Curl. this will clear the camp in a very short amount of time and will not do much damage due to your armor buff and heal from Hunter's Talisman.

I recommend not ganking during your first clear and focus on early levels and making sure you're getting a good gold income. However during your second clear try to find some enemies pushing lane for easy ganks from behind the target.

As previously stated in last chapter, Rammus's ganks are most effective when coming from behind the targets.

Ganking Mid: Try to get on the side of the brush closest to the enemy team's base or start your gank from the paths that border the brushes. From here Powerball and try to get as far around your target as possible and try to collide them closer to your mid laner. Then use a W E combo to keep them in place for your mid laner to land a full combo on the highly vulnerable target.

Ganking Bot: When ganking bot first assess who the squishiest enemy in the lane is. After targeting them, ping your target so your bot lane knows who to attack. Finally use the same combo on that person while ignoring the other. The more focus you have on one target in a duo lane the more likely your team is to secure a kill.

Ganking Top: top is the easiest lane to gank with Rammus due to the large area you have to zone off the enemy from escaping. I highly recommend visiting top lane the most out of all 3 lanes due to the natural ease that Rammus's Kit provides for the situation.

Skirmisher's Sabre: Enhances Rammus' ganking ability and increases probability of successful ganks. Very good late game to either whittle down tanks or get extra damage on carries.

Blade of the Ruined King: I like this item on rammus right now because it makes him a force to be reconned with in the mid game. Although you aren't as tanky as before from the runes and masteries you will be taking,you damage on ganks, clearing speed,jungle sustain, and objective taking ability goes up. When you rush this item be careful, you are not as tanky as you think, but the ups, when played right,out weigh the downs. If you do not feel comfortable taking this item, than take Turbo Chemtank.

Enchantment: Cinderhulk: Giving 325 health, this is going to make Stalkers Blade your first tank item. Great for clearing jungle and mid game health pool.

Ninja Tabi- You're able to get some tenacity from your masteries, so i recommend getting ninja tabi to protect you further from auto attacks and attack damage. But, of course, boots are always subject to change, stay aware and change the boots up as needed- you have the final choice!

Thornmail- great item on Rammus and has a wealth of synergies.

Spirit Visage- synergises well with BoRK, gives a lot of magic resist and health and gives extra CDR. Good item, also its components are really strong, in particular the Specter's Cowl

Dead Man's Plate- Has good components, this is the default, but if there's any defensive item to sub into a build for a situational item, this will be it.

Black Cleaver - The Black cleaver takes away your Armor for every stack it or proc of physical damage that is applied by the owner and can be exploited by the whole team unlike Last Whisper , Mortal Reminder, and Lord Dominik's Regards.
Last Whisper- Last whisper by iteslf is a quick pick up however its finished item paths can offer a lot to stop you for example if you have a lot of healing through a Spirit Visage/ Warmog's Armor combo or apply extra damage through large differences in health pool. These items ( Last Whisper , Mortal Reminder, and Lord Dominik's Regards) don't have effects that the whole team can benefit from with the exception of grevious wounds on Mortal Reminder
Quicksilver Sash- This item can cleanse most all debuffs and crowd control (like your taunt. To try to play around this try to buffer when you use this in your combo to see if an adc will blow the cooldown active of the item preemptively (q- w- r - pause-e). This item also builds into Mercurial Scimitarvwhich becomes even more difficult to play against due to the added life steal in the item
Mikael's Blessing- This is similar to the previously listed item Quicksilver Sash, however it is usually bought by a support player. And can be outplayed similarly as stated in the previous section.
Void Staff- Void staff is a cheep buy however can be very effective against you especially if you need to build a lot of armor to deal with an AD threat that game. Very strong on burst mages. If they have this item have your W on as much as possible in fights
Sorcerer's Shoes Add both mobility and magic penetration to the users build. Dont under estimate the power of this item in the mid game.
Liandry's Torment - Offers magic pen and survivability for the owner as well as allows the user to do percent max hp magic damage on spells. Can be very potent including with mages with cc or have bought and exploit synergies that Liandry's has with Rylai's Crystal Scepter

- Maw of Malmortius, Duskblade of Draktharr, and Youmuu's Ghostblade- All these items share similar values in giving a lot of Attack damage as well as penetration. Along with these shared values each has something unique about them. Maw gives a magic shield as well as life steal and spell vamp, Duskblade adds a burst of Attack damage on auto attack (the least threatening usually, and Youmuu's will give a attack speed and move speed buff upon activation.

Frozen Heart- if your team is lacking in crowd control, this item can contribute to the cause due to its passive. It also helps you as a player giving you an extra 90 armor. This item is extremely good against squishy, attack damage heavy teams.

Sterak's Gage -this is a good skirmishing and offensive item, i rarely get it, however it can be very effective in the right scenario. Get this if youre ahead and fighting a lot- it provides good damage, utility, and tank stats and can really snowball a lead.

Zz'Rot Portal- A great utility item for teams with a lot of mixed damage that are strong in the mid game. This item is good both from ahead by pressuring lanes and behind via stalling out enemies pushing turrets.

Wit's End- A great offensive item, if you are snowballing and they have an ap on their team this item can help you expand on your advantage. This can also expedite farming.

Mercury's Treads- Great buy vs teams with a lot of hard cc and few auto attackers. If the enemy has many slows than you may consider Boots of Swiftness

Iceborn Gauntlet- Due to the changes in 6.1, this item became a very potent item. Although the AP was taken away, the armor went up as well as the slow radii now scales with bonus armor. This i great for enemies who are good at kiting, good for chasing, utility in team fights, and clear for it adds a bit of extra damage. Overall this went from a situational item I didn't even bother putting in the guide to a core item in one change

Randuin's Omen: Giving a great +350 health +60 armor boost is enough to make this a good item on Rammus, but Its passive slows an enemy's attack speed by 15% when auto attacking Rammus, AND it's active slows enemies for 55% move speed for two seconds great for peeling and team fights. But the thing that makes distinguishes this item from a good item is its ability to reduce crit damage by 20%. If youre going against a team with high crit chance i would definitely recommend this item to replace either Abyssal Mask (if theres no AP threats) or Warmog's Armor.

Adaptive Helm- I'd only recommend this item against hish dps mages who use the same spell for damage such as Cassiopeia or Ryze and would substitute it for Warmog's Armor. It is also good against people who do a lot of magic damage on auto attacks like Kog' Maw, Corki,and even Varus or Teemo.

Titanic Hydra- I recommend this only if you are far ahead. It is great for wave control, damage and jungle clear. Use this item to close out games quickly in the mid game.

Gargoyle Stoneplate so far, i havent been to wowed by this item like most people have. I think the other resistance items in the core build Locket of the Iron Solari and Thornmail fit Rammus and his kit better. They help both him and his team win more than this item. Although this item is good if you need it for more resist against a team than health. These examples may be like facing a team with a lot of Blade of the Ruined King users or character who do percent damage like Fizz with his W or Kled with his ultimate

Abyssal Mask- great if you need an extra magic resist items and has good synergy with your mastery press the attack due to its aura.

This section of the guide is for when you're behind as Rammus but a team mate of yours is ahead. Rammus has a lot of utility in his kit, and instead of using him as a raw tank when behind, its much easier to use him as a second support.

Here are some support items that you can use to help your team win even when you are behind (MAKE SURE TO COMMUNICATE WITH SUPPORT SO YOU DONT DOUBLE UP ON ITEMS):

Zeke's Convergence - this item is useful in buffing an ADC or potentially an AD mid or top(e.g. Jax , Jayce, and especially Yasuo). It's a cheap item that gives decent armor and tons of utility. The true damage on this thing is insane especially late game and it is super easy to use as your ultimate gives off a slow, keeping enemies in range of the true damage field.

Sightstone- This item needs to be picked up earlier in your build rather than later (usually in place of your Bami's Cinder) if you see that the enemy team has a good pick comp or fed assassin then you may want to consider investing in this

Knight's Vow- Great item if you have a damage dealer who needs protection, but also does a lot of damage. This item creates a symbiotic relationship where you get a lot of healing, and you can also take damage for your carry. Great item when you got to play for the team.