1/11/2012
Changed example build slightly, added item and character tags.

1/12/2012
Altered Runes upon advice.

1/13/2012
Altered formatting greatly with Jhoi's formatting template, guide looks pretty now.

NOTE! The first three chapters ARE NOT GUIDE MATERIAL! They are explanations, but feel free to skip down to the meat of things. Thanks!

Hey, My name is CaptainCandycorn. I'm planning to share with you how I like to play Rammus, and if I'm lucky, you might decide to take some of my bad habits for yourself.

Tanking is hard. To Tank, you have to be able to constantly adapt. You can't build the same set every match and facreroll. You have ONE item that should be built every game, and the remaining five slots are situational.

The objective of the Tank is to get between your team and their team and turn the teamfight on it's head. To do so effectively, you have to be able to soak up damage like a sponge from a variety of sources, and do that long enough for your buddies to mop up the scrubs on the opposing team. Rammus's abilities allow him to do this quite well, and good gear only makes him that much better. Compound that with personal skill and a bit of practice, and you will be the MVP every game, I promise.

All you have to do is adapt.

Adapt, adapt, adapt.



Rammus is a good champion for anyone who wants to be able to walk face-first into any bush ever and waltz out laughing. Anyone who wants to chuckle heartily as you solo a super-fed Master Yi with nothing but a Thornmail and a smile, then go on to get a double kill off their Jarvan IV while saving a Soraka from his ult. Rammus is a great choice for anyone looking to get their feet wet in the art of tanking, and is all-around a fun and rewarding character to play, regardless of level and ELO, which, as many of us know, is a precious rarity in the League.

Credits go out to the following~

Mikuroo:For supplying an offensive twist for the original build.

jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

A Laning!Rammus for people who don't always play in Vent so Jungling isn't super-viable. You need better communication than text and pings to gank with most teams.

It is a way to play Rammus that is an absolute blast to do and allows newer players comfort and growing room to get used to Rammus's advanced mechanics. It allows you to make a few mistakes and not totally wreck your teams chance of winning, and more importantly, having fun.

Not every match boils down to an AD carry top, AP carry mid, Support and Tanky DPS bot, and a Tank jungling. That wouldn't be fun, and a new meta would evolve to counter it, or everyone would run the same dozen-or-so "Good Champs" and only the elite of the elite would actually break any ground with under-used champions.

A Jungle Guide. Why? There are better ones than anything I could do. Alay's for example.
A 2200+ ELO Guide. Why? Anyone at that level doesn't need a guide and -is- Jungling.
A Tanky-DPS Guide. Why? That's yuck on Rammus, he's a better pure tank.
A Support!Rammus guide. Why? There are better Support!Tanks. Alistar says sup.

Jungling is great. Early ganks can single-handedly turn the tide of a match in your teams favor, and the map-control offered by your wards and awareness gives your team a cozy security blanket to snuggle up in. That's great. Fantastic even.

Now try to do it in a solo queue reliably. With people who won't leash blue, or AoE wolves, or fall back to the tower so you can get a double-kill/first-blood combo off top six minutes in. Try to do it without the weight of a big name behind you, you know, one that actually allows you to tell people what would be best for the next fight so you can gank like the monster Rammus is. Try to roll into a lane and dominate with four bars of health because you had to solo Blue Golems because Mid was goofing off/didn't know any better. Try to recover from that, while trying to maintain farm and wards and presence across the map. Try.

It is ridiculously hard for Rammus to jungle in a solo queue simply from the fact that you can't pick your teammates, and, as any jungler knows, the first ten minutes make or break you.

If you are queuing with people you know and have a rapport with, a good Jungle Rammus is quite possibly the scariest, most terrifying champ in the entire League to play against.

However, if you just bought him, don't have the RP for a full Rune Page, and don't have 1-3 people in Vent with you to make those first ten minutes really shine like they could, you have two choices: Play someone who can truly solo jungle, or lane and make top QQ more.

spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace

Pros + Very Tanky + A riot to play (Pardon the pun, heh.) + You can feel how useful you are to your team + Abilities synergize well with play style + Stats scale well with level + A huge world of meta-tactics to explore

space

puncturing taunt

space

Cons - Not so good early-game - Vulnerable to CC - Not very much auto-attack damage - Requires skill to play to his full potential - Advanced tactics are hard to get down at first

Pretty standard Tank masteries. About 21 points in the Defense tree is all you need, what you do with the rest is up to personal preference. I like to put a point in the Utility tree so my Flash cools down a little bit faster.

• Greater Quintessence of Health: The health bonus make a vulnerable early-game much more livable, and helps prevent an embarrassing First Blood
  
• Greater Mark of Armor: Supplys much needed Armor until you can afford some of your more heavy-duty gear midgame
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: Grants magic resist. As any Rammus knows, a little MR goes a long way early game, and you don't want to have to rely on Defensive Ball Curl all the time.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: Yet MORE Armor

Flash: Non-negotiable. Take Flash. Synergises perfectly with Powerball. Flash is your bread and butter. It is amazing, and you REALLY should take it every match. (More on WHY it's so great in the Techniques section) If you see a Rammus without it, /slap him for me, 'k?

space

Exhaust: Lets you totally shut down a champion so your team can catch up for the kill, or to effectively remove that champ from the teamfight.

space

Smite: Only if you want to take a bungle through the jungle, but if you want a Jungle Rammus guide, there is a very good one here

• Spiked shell: Your passive effect. Converts 25% of your armor into attack damage
  
• Powerball (Q): It chases, it interrupts, it slows, it knocks up, it gets you cool places faster, AND does a little bit of damage! What more could you want!
  
• Defensive Ball Curl (W): Your "Oh FFFUU~!" button. Jacks your Armor and Magic Resist up by a ton for 6 seconds, and returns 60 + 10% of your Armor back as magic damage. Stacks with Thornmail and eats Master Yi alive. Using this interrupts Powerball
  
• Puncturing taunt Puncturing Taunt (E): This will be the source of many of your kills. Use it to pull someone off your squishy Support, pull them into towers, prevent them from running, and just all around making people do things they shouldn't. Like attack you when you have a Thornmail and are in Defensive Ball Curl.
  
• Tremors (R): Does great AoE damage. Using this while you roll next to a fleeing enemy can oftentimes net you a difficult kill. High usefulness and a low cooldown make this skill both versatile and effective, no matter what you want to do with it, whether that be to throw a little more damage onto the pile in a teamfight, or knock on that tower a little harder.

NOTE! As items for a Tank should vary from match to match to suit what you are defending against, the items at the top of the page are a viable example only! Below some suggestions are provided to make countering your opponents that much easier! Remember Rammi, the ONLY concrete thing to a true Tank in the League of Legends is his fluid and adaptive nature! His only absolutes are the resilience of his hide and the strength of his will! Fight! Destroy! CONQUER!

• : Over one-thousand health when fully stacked, this monster compounded with all of your armor will make you that much harder to burn down. Core Item for all Situations!
  
  
• : Synergizes well with Defensive Ball Curlto return a large amount of damage to anyone silly enough to take a swing at your iron hide.
  Core Item Against Ridiculous AD like Tryndamere and Master Yi!
  
  
• : Armor, 10% damage reduction from all auto-attacks, and more movement speed all make this useful in a close-quarters fight! Core Item Against Melee!
  
  
• : Armor, Health, and a passive AoE allow this to increase you damage output and survivability at the same time! Recomended Item Against Melee!
  
  
  
• : Huge amount of Magic Resistance. Very useful against AP champs. Core Item against Casters!
  
  
• : Magic Resistance, Tenacity, and movement speed make this priceless when facing down crowd-control and mage-types. Core Item Against Casters!
  
  
• : Health, Mana, Magic Resistance, and a passive once-every-45-seconds total spell negation allows you to shrug off Crowd Control like rain! Recomended Item Against Casters!

NON STUPID AMOUNT OF AD ON THE OTHER TEAM BUILD!

• : Boatload of health and Health Regen. Always get this.
  
  
• : Better than Thornmail most of the time, as it gives almost as much Armor, health, and other good stuff like an active slow to help your team out a lot. A -lot-. Never underestimate this guy right here. Randuin will NEVER let you down.
  Core Item Against EVERYTHING!
  
  
• : Magic Resist, Tenacity. Makes you more useful. Core Item Against EVERYTHING!
  
  
• : Armor, Health, and a passive AoE allow this to increase you damage output and survivability at the same time! Recomended Item Against Melee!
  
  
  
• : Fair bit of Magic Resistance that increases per-swing, a nice on-hit that makes you a tiny bit more threatening, and an attack speed increase. Pretty useful if you don't want to blow a few hundred more gold on a Force of Nature . Very useful against AP champs. Core Item against Casters!
  
  
  
• : Health, Mana, Magic Resistance, and a passive once-every-45-seconds total spell negation allows you to shrug off Crowd Control like rain! Recomended Item Against Casters!

Five situational item slots can be very intimidating for a newer player, so fortunately I can provide a few suggestions.

First off, buy a Regrowth Pendant and a Health Potion. The health regen the Pendant gives will keep you in lane and farming gold for longer, and the potion is for their first 'b' phase. You stay in lane and get more gold, unless you really need to go back to the Fountain.

Then, buy some basic boots if you're laning against champions with skill shots like Mundo, Lux, Kennen, and the like, or, if you just like being able to move around a little faster early. A tip against skill shots: Zig-zag. Never stand still. Ever.

Against casters, you'll want more Magic Resist-centric core build, like Force of Nature + Banshee's Veil + Mercury's Treads. For AD, Thornmail OR Randuin's Omen + Ninja Tabi + Sunfire Aegis should do well.

Your "Big Item" order should resemble~
Boots->Big Resistance(FoN/TM/RO)-> Warmogs-> Resistance complement + health


EXAMPLES:
~> Against AP: Mercury's Treads-> Force of Nature-> Warmog's Armor-> Banshee's Veil
~> Against AD: Ninja Tabi -> Thornmail-> Warmog's Armor-> Sunfire Aegis

~> Against a mixture: Mercury's Treads -> Warden's Mail -> Giant's Belt ->
Warmog's Armor -> Randuin's Omen -> Banshee's Veil

The basic formula is Movement -> Armor/Resist + Health Regen -> Health -> Health + Armor/Resist + Useful Passive effect.

Semi-complicated, but works well in practice.

"But Cap'n, That's Only Four Slots!"

I am aware of that.

You will seldom find a team composed of entirely of AD or AP, and if so, they deserve nothing less than to be crushed under your unrelenting bootheel. Those last spots are to cover a weak point of your choice.

In general, just pull the two non-Warmogs/Boots from the opposite set and you'll do well. That doesn't work all the time though, and gets expensive, so unless they have an Attack Speed based melee champ like Master Yi or AD Shaco, get the Sunfire Aegis if they have more AP than AD, and the Banshee's Veil first instead of the Force of Nature if they have more AD than AP.

The above can be tweaked as needed for your personal success. Remember, the only concrete in this guide is Flash. The rest can be altered and built upon depending on how the match is going.

Remember Rammi: Adapt, adapt, adapt.

Farming can be difficult for Summoners new to Rammus. The trick is to ALWAYS last-hit. Judge how much each attack of yours does, and put that knowledge to use against all of those creeps! Remember, the most important strike is the last one!

You will find that much of your gold will come from assists, which you should have plenty of by the end of the match. Always put that gold to good use by buying items that increase your level of sustainability.

You are the Tank. By nature, you are a damn good one, too. Powerball into the fray with your team close behind and puncturing taunt their Carry into attacking you. Activate Defensive Ball Curl and soak up the damage! Use Soaring Slam to soften up the enemy for the rest of your team, and pick of the stragglers with a well-placed Flash from a Powerball into a puncturing taunt/ Defensive Ball Curl to seal the deal!

If you have Randuin's Omen, hit the active (Remember to set it too item slot one) to ruin some poor Carry's day. Laugh at them afterwards. (But not really, be a good sportsman at all times or I will hunt you down and Taunt you into a blender.)

Always try to say Good Luck and Have Fun at the start of every match in allchat. It alleviates tensions and actually makes your play experience all the more enjoyable.

Be a good sport. Apologize for "Stealing a kill." It encourages teamwork and bolsters morale.

Compliment teammates (And even opponents) on good plays. So long as you aren't typing in combat, that is.

Master Yi: He's what's for dinner. GET DUNKED! (As long as you use Defensive Ball Curl and have a Thornmail)

Tanks are best when they only have to stack one resistance early game, so try to lane against two of the same damage type. If you're bottom against Lux and Xin Zhao, ask to go top against Sion and Talon, simply so you don't have to split resources being mediocre against two types of damage.


As a general rule, you will tend to do better as the amount of AD champions they have increases, by merit of your Defensive Ball Curl + Thornmail doing insane damage against anyone silly enough to take a swing at you.

When using your Roll, target a little ahead of the enemy champion you want to hit and knock up/interrupt/chase, otherwise you'll just roll in place and get laughed at.

Your ultimate can be activated while rolling to soften a champ up for DBC ->Taunt. That technique is also useful for chasing a champ with low health; oftentimes, you'll get the kill simply from rolling next to them. A quick note about your Ult: The animation for it doesn't map the radius of the attack accurately, and neither do it's pulsations. Just stay close to them and you'll do well.

When using your Roll, you stop when you hit minions, so try to stay near the edge of a lane so it's harder to bump into the little guys. As you get more used to Rammus, you'll find yourself able to weave in and out of a group of minions, but that takes a little bit of time and effort to get down.

Flash: Why it's so good to have. Rolling towards a champ who is hiding behind a group of minions? He thinks he's safe from you? He will, until a Mach 3 Rammus Flashes over those minions and lands down his throat. Leapfrog over their Tank and taunt the squishy behind him to his death. Need to ruin away? Roll towards a wall and flash over it, pop Ghost and burn through that Jungle, baby!

If someone is pushing a tower of yours and there is an ally there already, come up the lane from behind him, Roll into him so that he pops back towards the tower and your buddy, Taunt him so he can't get away, and DBC just to be safe while your friend unloads into the poor sap's back. Problem solved.

Taunt someone into the bushes with an ally of yours early game. Easy kill.

Lane with Alistar, Blitz, or Cho'gath and troll kids with Crowd Control.

Me, and for some reason I forgot Warmogs. Silly me.

This build demonstrates a more balanced opposing team setup. I didn't do as well in kills, but made up for it in survivability and assists.

I have no idea what happened this fight. Heh. Two triple kills + experimentation with items = a fun time had for all.

Hopefully this guide has given you a few new insights on how to play Rammus. Even if your score only improves by one or two kills a match, I'm proud to have been able to share with you some useful information on my favorite champion.

Remember, this guide is a work in progress, so if you spot anything you have an opinion on, leave me a comment! I've always got new things to learn about the Armordillo, and look forward to critique from more experienced Rammus players. If you supply a bit of info that changes how I play him, it'll make it into the guide and full credit will be given, along with my thanks.


Remember the Golden Rule, Rammi! Adapt, adapt, adapt!

Huge thanks go to jhoijhoi for the template that I used to make the guide a little more pretty and organized, which you can find here.