Hello, welcome to my guide to Heimerdinger. My intention is to show the strengths of Heimer and his viability to be used in ranked games. While he is a very strange character to use, he is my favorite, and I intend to show others how to properly enjoy using him. Heimerdinger needs to be built full AP, he needs the help to get his turrets to do all the damage they can do (srry boys and girls, but Heimer's turrets help him to do a vast majority of things in order to make him worth while).

Pros:
-great farmer
-great pusher
-deceptive playing style
-can gain XP and gold while not in lane
-has best joke in the League

Cons:
-needs to be great at farming because his build is Heckuva expensive
-squishy
-turrets don't get any bonuses at all, are only effected by his AP
-is slow (walking and basic attacking)

Greater Mark of Insight- Self explanatory, I assume, especially since in order for him to be viable you are building Heimer pure AP, and this is the only penetration you are really getting (getting any more is really a waste since his turrets do not get penetration)

Greater Seal of Clarity- Heimer is mana hungry, and the level up effect of these mana regen runes really help out (do not recoment flat regen)

Greater Glyph of Force- Combined with Blast (Mastery Tree) you are getting 2 AP per lvl (until 18) and it really does add up, every little bit helps when your AP ratio is so crummy on his turrets

Greater Quintessence of Potency- a must for Heimer, needs it for his early game, gives him a few extra attk points to his turrets (once again, is crummy ratio and every bit helps)

21-0-9

Going all out for the caster build with 21 in Offence, pretty standard. But the 9 in utility, you want the mana route to the rune buff. Heimer quickly gets mana hungry when you don't pay attention, so this always helps, like having the blue buff last longer, plus the improved recall helps to get him out quicker when he interrupts a minion wave for farm because the enemny will always be on your tail for it)

Flash- saves Heimer, is his escape mechanism to avoid dying in a team fight (flash away when they begin to target you, you are very squishy, then place down your turrets and let loose some missiles and a grenade)

Teleport- saves your towers, as Heimer you are nearly immortal as long as you have enough mana to bust out some turrets while you are under a friendly tower, you want to save these, never forget that your towers are important, if you have a choice between farming and saving a tower, SAVE THE FREEKIN' TOWER <-- but never at the cost of your own life, unless you take them out with you (also, never forget that you can use teleport on your own minions, which is an excellent way to get to team fights and gold)

I really can't recommend any other spells for Heimerdinger, he needs mobility, and these spells give it too him, and if you find yourself wanting ghost instead of teleport, you aren't playing from a distance.

Look, I know that many people frown upon trying to max the turrets first after Heimer's nerf from 3 turrets to 2, but that last point into 5 gives the turrets their splash damage, and that is what makes them proper farming tools.

And when it comes to the grenade and how so many other's tote it to be Heimers best and strongest ability, well, they're right, the problem is that it has an absurdly long hang time, and the only real hits you are going to get with it is you throwing it into team fights to stun a group of enemies while the rest of your team wails on them, and if someone is right on you and you get a nice little stun zone around Heimer for your escape, this is why it is maxed last as well as why so little points get put into it until into your late levels.

As for switching up the build sequence because the enemy you are facing is completely wrecking your turrets during the early phases of the game (levels 1 through 6) look, I know this is tuff to hear, but their is really no easy fix for this, all that will help you is better turret placement, keeping them at odds with your minions (make the enemy decide to use their abilites to hurt minions or turrets <-- this is for enemies that have AOE abilities, otherwise you are safe with putting them in your minion waves because they become harder to hit), and relying on you passive to help keep them around. But remember, you ultimately want your third turret by level 4, but if you are doing well enough, you can go ahead and get your grenade at level 3 and get the third turret by level 5

As a last note here, feel free to upgrade your missiles over getting that second Upgrade skill point, it is really only of use in team fights, and level one upgrade still fully heals your turrets, so unless team fights are breaking out regularly, feel free to go a level or two before getting that second point in upgrade, but ONLY a level or two.

I can't understand why so many people insist upon using a Ryla's in their builds, wether you like it or not Heimerdinger focuses primarily on his turrets,
which DO NOT get the following
-increased range from Scout in utility mastery
-penetration
-spell vamp

His turrets only get effected by his AP, as such, the reason you start off with an Amplifying Tome and mana pot is two fold get his str up on his turrets (will be 39) and have some extra mana regen if you become careless and lose it from reckless attks from your rockets/grenade in the early game

Your next purchase is a Needlessly Large Rod, so you are in their for the long haul and you have to place your turrets wisely in order to make them last long enough so that you simply aren't wasting your mana to place a new one each time they are ready

On occasion, you may need to get your first pair of boots first (Heimer is awfully slow so sometimes boots are needed for him to properly dodge ping attacks from the enemy-Ziggs bombs and Xeraths lightning come to mind) but if you are aware enough of your enemy you can eventually learn to dodge them all together and get that rod all the quicker.

Why Boots of Mobility?

Heimerdinger is freekin slow, if you have played him even once, you understand this. The Boots of Mobility allow Heimer to re-enter his lane while his teleport is down and it also allows you to invade other lanes to place a turret, use a missile blast, and walk away back to your own lane or to somebody else's lane to help them. These boots are the only way Heimer is able to move properly across the map, and without them he is unable to farm multiple lanes to get gold (which he desperately needs because not only is his build expensive, but since he is never in the front lines of battle it falls SOLELY to him to buy ALL the wards (I am still at a low ELO, but it still irks me when a Sona or a Malphite refuse to but any wards at all in a ranked game-alrighty moving right along)

Athene's Unholy Grail next, you'll buy the fist cup next, you need the mana regen. I am so glad that LOL made this item, it has taken place of my Arch staff, which is great because no tear of the goddess to slow the build down, that first cup rocks because you get some magic res, as well as the mana regen (because quite frankly Tear only every kept you at +7 regen every 5 seconds and the extra mana is no good because it is added to your empty portion of mana so you never saw it till you ported back to your base anyway) <-- which is why the codex is much more enjoyable because you get cool down reduction

Zonya's Hourglass next, buying the rod first (this item will save your tail, and since you are playing Heimer well, you are quite the nuisance which means they WILL at least attempt to get you a few times

Lich's Bane, after you core build is done, you are pretty set, so what's next, more PA of course, and with a speed multiplier, AP, AND a passive to freekin knock down you opponents with a steroided basic attack while your abilities are on cooldown, it is really quite the good pick.

Lastly, Banshee's Veil (yes another magic res item, since it also gives him extra health and mana, not to mention the ever so praised shield, it is a fine choice, but really at this point the sixths item is up to you. Though if you don't like the extra hp, mana, magic res, and shield, then go for more AP, though I would highly recommend getting either Deathfire Grasp or Morello's Tome for their use of active abilities or if you just want more AP for AP's sake, build yourself a second Rabadon.

And remember once you have bought all six items, don't forget to buy those elixirs at the shop to give you some lovely bonuses in everything you do. XD

This is the crux of Heimerdinger, his turrets.

The most basic advice is to not put them directly side by side each other, don't make it too easy for your enemy to be in reach of them to destroy them, but also because the further apart from each other they are, the more area you will be able to attack.

Mastery will only come with time, but here are some excellent tips on where to place them when in lane. The prime spot to place your turret is between your physical minions and in front of your mage minions once they have begun to clash. With your own minions in the way many an opposing champ will not waste mana with their abilities to hit off your turret with anything else but auto attacks, in which case you can come up and wack them with your hammer (or use missiles if there are only two other enemy minions around) to scare them off.

When it comes to AOE attacking champions like Brand or Lux, you want to place it either to the right or the left of the physical minion clash (by about one or two turret lengths), this will give them enough distance to still do damage, and it will make the enemy choose between using their abilities to farm or to take down a single turret.

When your enemy can out-range you with both abilities and auto attacking, all you can really do is play it close to your tower ( I know it hurts to do that, especially since your turrets should allow you dominance over your lane, but remember, your passive will heal and parting shots they get and you stay alive is better than you dying)

When it comes to farming outside your lane, you AINT doing it until you have your boots of mobility and your turrets up to level 5 (the splash damage is what makes them effective), just place a single turret down, fire off a single missile blast (waiting until 3 minions are in range), then run away, it's that easy. You do not go any farther at all unless you have someone in the lane with you or you are about to take the tower in like three hits. The prime spot for doing this is along the river, so make sure you are keeping an eye out for opposing minion waves, do not attempt this much farther past the first enemy tower unless you have just warded the enemies forest because you will be ganked and die, the enemy hates your turrets and the way they help your minions push closer to chipping away the life from their towers and will always come out of their way to take out your turret to put a stop to it before too long (if they don't, they are not very map aware then)

Missile blast and a grenade will normally be sufficient to take out a great many of them after you have gotten your Rabadon's and Codex, so when pushing with a team mate(s) make sure to not place down a turret until a team fight or a tower is reached.

Finally when it comes to preemptively placing turrets before a team fight, you need to think defense for yourself, not attacking the enemy, and while it's smart to do this, I recommend trying to just ward these places instead so you have more turrets ready to launch out.

Early game (levels 1-6) harass your enemy with missiles (this is why you want to keep it at level 1, it is the cheapest), but make sure not to use all your mana, just keep them on edge to the point where any time there is a minion lull if you step forward, they run away, or if they chase you you can stay out of their range and blast them with it.

Here's how team fights work, Heimerdinger is squishy, you are not to initiate fights (you can send missiles to the front line and harras, but your body should not be near the front lines) even once you have your Zonya's Hourglass, the glass is meant to act as a shield to prevent you from being bursted to death before/during a team fight.

Here is how you team fight looks, bust your upgrade, if it's uasable, missiles, grenade(to biggest enemy cluster), then place turrets (far apart so they can have the most area to attack with, because once a turret is level 2 it's attacks lower armor/res by 1 for each attack, this will stack up to 50 times, so yeah, these turrets are quite nice in a team fight). While you wait for your abilities to come back, try to auto-attack a little <-- a little more once you get Zeal and then Lich's Bane, as long as the enemy won't kill you, but you must always stay in range of your team-mates so your passive can help them stay in fight's longer (it has saved many a team mate of mine).

A little rough around the edges, but all in all, this is (in my opinion) the way to play Heimerdinger. Just remember, never go it alone (unless you have heavily warded an area of course). But NEVER forget that since your Heimer you don't have to be in lane to gain gold and experience, your turrets can do that for you.