Twitch Build Guide by Gott der 7 Meere

Introduction

Hello Summoners,

Twitch is a roamer and auto attack based assassin. The jungle allows him to stay hidden as much as possible and gives him the opportunities for ambushes, raids and mugging. (And no one will complain about dat smell)

You can find guides on pure AD Twich builds, all of wich max out Expunge first and that work well here on Mobafire, so there is no need for another guide concerning these.

My guide is about a very unusual and strikingly different build, it will draw teammate aggro and might not work on your first attempt. I don't pretend that everyone else is wrong and that I have the only true Twitch build, but I do claim it to be viable and I would be happy to hear reasonable arguments, when you talk about No-Expunge-Twitch.

Feel free to contact me for questions and feedback,

my IGN is "Gott der 7 Meere" on EUW.

About this Build

Twitch has ... ... a huge amount of innert DPS. ... stealth and slow for amazing ambushes and ganks. ... AD and AS steroids.

Twitch lacks ... ... any AD ratios on his skills.* ... auto attack range (only 500). ... early Health and Mana. ... a skill, because Expunge is just terrible.*

* Will be fixed with the stealth-remake of Twitch and Evelyn...

Abilities and Skillorder

- improved by: AS
Deadly Venom (Damage, Dot): This is a very strong passive if you succeed in stacking it. 6 stacks deal [90-360] true damage over 6 seconds, wich is almost as much as the [70-410] true damage from Ignite. The most awesome thing about his passive is that few people realize how much damage it does and will flee with to little health left to survive. Attacking once every 6 seconds will keep this up as a permanent dot (It has nice synergy with Cassiopeia).

> > > - level, stealth time, AS
Ambush (Buff, Scout, Escape, Trap): One of the best stealth abilities in the game. Huge duration, huge AS buff. We use this in early jungleing to clear camps quicker and be invisible between them and always ready to gank. It can not only be used to engage out of nowhere, but also for escaping and scouting. In mid-late game it is advised that you carry around an Oracle's Elixir to detect enemy Vision Wards. A good Twitch should remain hidden for the most part of the game, giving no enemy the chance to stop him.

> > > - CDR, level, Deadly Venom
Debilitating Poison (Slow, CC): This is by far your most usefull ability. Due to its awesome range, you can use it savely without enemies detecting you. The high duration and slow amount are directly linked to your Deadly Venom stacks and prevent enemies from escaping your ganks. Use this only when enemies are out of your attack range or at the verge of leaving it, don't waste it if they are close.

> > > - MPen, level, AP, CDR, Deadly Venom
Expunge (Damage): Look at any Twitch guide and you will see this maxed first, as it instantly deals significant damage [150-510], allowing you to finish anyone without fear for retaliation. But for me, this skill has some heavy disadvantages that make me neglect it. First of all, its damage is lower than what your true damage passive dot would do on its own (-[90-360] compared to -([150-510]*(1-0.25) 40 MR = [110-380]) this gets only worse the further a game proceeds (no Twitch would get MPen). Secondly, it will remove your Deadly Venom and with that any additional true damage and slowing potential. Finally, it has a high Mana cost and takes away precious skill points.
I won't say that its useless or underpowered - the damage it can do is quite awesome - but it is not as good as it may look at first glance and I consider it a situational skill. For most games, just ignore it and be happy about the true damage and higher AS and Slow.

> > > - On-Hit, AD, AS, Crit, APen, MPen (On-Hit), CDR
Spray and Pray (Buff, Damage): An incredibly strong ultimate, when itemized and executed correctly. See a list of some items that synergize with it...

• Phage - Slow ( Venom Cask does this too).
• Wit's End/ Madred's Bloodrazor - On-Hit effects ( Deadly Venom goes here).
• Executioner's Calling - It gives you godlike lifesteal from multiple targets.
• Infinity Edge - Critical Strikes...
• The Black Cleaver/ Malady - Resistance reduction.

Keep in mind that your attacks become skillshots and can miss! You should try to use it in narrow corridors where its doesn't miss, or against stationary targets (Don't shoot an Akali and expect your attacks to hit anything but thin air).

Concerning my skillorder: If you aknowledge that Expunge is not the place to put points in, my skillorder is simple to explain...

Summoner Spells

Every jungler needs Smite and because Twitch lacks gap closers or escapes, I always use Flash to avoid skillshots, jump over walls or reposition myself.

There are some spells like , , , that might acctually give great benefits to Twitch, but Smite and Flash are almost irreplacable. Others are either very bad because Twitch already has them as abilities or doesn't need them like , , and some that are just out of place ( , ).

Champion Statistics

In this section, I will talk about the most important stats for Twitch, how much you need of them, and where you can get it effectively. In my oppinion, there is no one item or mastery that is set in stone, you should adapt to your team and enemy anyway. Stats not listed here are truly ineffective on Twitch or go against the logic of this build (MReg, AP, Spellvamp).



Life Steal: --- +25%

- vital: optional/replacement:

Runes and masteries allow for a Doran's Blade start. Always get at least a Wriggles and one additional Vamp Scepter. Not only for sustain in Jungle, but especially to give you early and mid game durability in fights. The second Lifesteal item might seem to be too much, but you can get such a godlike lifesteal from your ult, that this can often be the difference between life and death.

Attack Speed (AS): --- +2.0 with Ambush

- vital: optional: ]

Attack speed considerably increases your DPS because you got a high base AS and your Deadly Venom. But due to Runes, Masteries and Ambush two AS item should be enough to put you over 2.0 and already close to the 2.5 cap.

Attack Damage / On-Hit-Effects (Damage): --- 200 - 400 per hit

- vital: optional: Last Wisper

Twitch doesn't scale with AD, but together with a high AS, any On-Hit or AD will increase your DPS. Ultimately you will take AD if your team lacks it, and because Crit and Lifesteal are much better late game than just On-Hit-Effects and also give your ultimate a huge punch. Thus we aim for cheap On-Hit Effects like Madred's Razors and Wit's End in early-mid game, but focus on AD and Crit during mid game to get a high end game damage output with Executioner's Calling and Infinity Edge. Should your team already have physical damage in abundance, try to get a Madred's Bloodrazor and more defense items.

Defense Penetration: --- 10% min

- vital: optional: Last Wisper

Allthough Defense Penetration has a huge impact on your damage output, you won't need it in jungler. Having a little helps to improve your early-mid game damage. Late game you can choose to get a big Armor Penetration item like Last Whisper, to carry your team.

Hit Points (HP): - - - ~300 bonus HP

- vital: optional: situational:

Health is necessary for early-mid-late game ganks and ambushes, but generally you should prefer resistances over health, due to your massive Lifesteal. Never get pure HP items like Warmog's Armor but rather Shield, and resistance combinations like Hexdrinker, Randuin's Omen.

Magic Resistance (MR): - - - ~100 MR

- vital: situational:

You definitely one Magic Resistance item, take either Hexdrinker or Wit's End. Because we already buy a Recurve Bow, Wit's seems perfect. If you need Tenacity, Mercury's Treads good.

Armor: - - - ~100 Armor

- vital: optional:

Armor is crucial as you will face mostly physical damage early and late game. A Wriggle's should bring you through early game, and a Warden's Mail/ Guardian Angel if you notice enemy teams depending on mostly physical damage and focusing you (no tank in the team).

Movement Speed (MS): - - - +400 MS and slows/speedups

- vital: situational:

Movement Speed is nice to have to kite and chase enemies while ganking, but your stealth and AOE slow should enable you to do this without special focus on MS.

Runes and Masteries

You will go deep into the offense and defense every mastery trees, gaining damage and damage reduction.

• The Offense mastery gives us:
• Butcher and Brute Force - Give us more 6 more damage every hit in jungle.
• Alacrity - A small 4% AS buff for even more Speed.
• Weapon Expertise and Sunder - Since we have no other penetration at all, this helps us when enemies get Armor.
• Vampirism - 3% Lifesteal for more sustain.
• Deadliness , Havoc and Executioner - For increased damage when you want to get kills mid-late game.

• The Defense mastery gives us:
• Tough Skin and Indomitable - These reduce incomming jungle damage by 4 and give damage back due to Bladed Armor .
• Hardiness - Allthough only some points, additional Armor is the better then MR.
• Durability - This is a nice early free HP boost.
• Summoner's Resolve - 10 gold for each Smite use adds up to a small fortune over the course of the game.

I almost always use this setup wich is taylored to start with a Doran's Blade. If you start with Cloth Armor and Health Potions, you can take any mstery-rune combination.

Game Walkthrough

Don't linger on the fountain and start your walking on your road to victory. Cover. Invasion. Help on wolves and a pull on blue are very helpfull, if you want to save your Smite for invasion, you should have someone that helps you take down blue.

A viable but dangerous start. High damage and sustain, but no potions to heal you after failed ganks or clashes. Buy one of these if you plan to invade and can't rely on your support to place it. Enemy wraith bush or blue/red are good invasion wards, while wards around mid will prevent invasion (optional, for experienced players). Start building your Wriggle's Lantern with this. And beef up your Armor for your first jungle run. This is the savest start, and recommended. You have no sustain, other than lifesteal from runes and masteries so these are essential for your early jungle. Always stay above 50% Health. To gain some AS for quicker clearing time and to give you a level 1 ganking and invading tool.
Clear your jungle, gank. Pay attention to where the enemy jungler is, if he shows up somewhere, steal all his jungle and countergank. Gank as soon as you get red buff, you don't need the blue buff.




You should go back when you run out of Health Potions.

We max this second to have an awesome slow for ganks and assists. This should always be your first buy. You absolutely need the proc and Lifesteal to be a quick jungler. Get at least a Vampiric Scepter if you can't afford the whole item. These give you all the MS you will need until you got other essential items and upgrade them. As explained, all his skills gain benefit from more AS, and you should rush this item asap. Only with this are you able to jungle consistently, gank with decent burst and solo dragon. You will later build this into Wit's End if you need MR and On-Hit, or just leave it there as cheap AS. You want HP, AD and the slow now, making your ganks almost certain kills and giving you the power to fight anyone 1v1. Defenses and Health, other than what you build with Phage and Wriggle's Lantern/ Wit's End are just bad for Twitch, you shouldn't build him as a Tank. Having said that, Lifesteal is your only viable stat to increase your survivability, and you will buy the Scepter to prepare for more Lifesteal items. Always buy one, this may decide your game.
Early game is prominent for your lack of blue buff, as you should give it to your mid. With Wriggle's Lantern and Recurve Bow, you can also solo dragon if your support wards the surrounding and clears wards at it.




Now its for you to decide what items suit the game...

Upgrade your boots for more MS and AS. Allthough Boots of Mobility and Mercury's Treads work well, too, I tend to increase my damage. This item has several benefits and suits Twitch very well; it has a very high lifesteal, it gives you much needed crit, it adds some damage to your dot and it makes your dot resemble ignite more with a very low CD healing reduction. You get this for some MR and a nice On-Hit effect to get cheap damage. Get one and never loose it. After you have taken care of AS, Durability and Utility, you can aim for some high-damage items like The Bloodthirster, The Black Cleaver or Infinity Edge, all of wich require this item to start with (Sell your Doran's Blade). Since you have all item slots covered and are waiting for the money to IE, you can buy an elixir to gain some more damage for now.


Now you want to upgrade all those low-tire items to give you some AD for end game.

End game is all about baron, and it is best to stay together whenever possible. Your duty is to provide damage when its needed - and carry your team with it.

You are no true AD carry until you get this. Executioner's Calling and Elixir of Agility should provide you with enough crit to already skyrocket your damage with an IE. Gives you more Crit and increases the slow. Some Mana is also nice to have. The Sheen proc requires you to use your skills more alertly. If you don't like it, leave the Phage, get Frozen Mallet
or sell it for a defensive item like Guardian Angel/ Randuin's Omen/... Replace your Berserker's Greaves if you need tenacity now - and only then. Replace them with a Phantom Dancer if you don't. Can replace your Wit's End/ Berserker's Greaves, but you get increasingly squishy. Keeps you save and dangerous against magic damage burst and upgrades your Hexdrinker if you bought one. Only get this if you are carrying your team, buy pure damage if your team has a good AD carry already. Upgrade your Wriggle's Lantern with a high tire item like this. Get all elixirs.

Get low tire items to save gold item. Ward important objectives (baron, dragon, buffs). Urge your teammates to focus on smaller things like save farming and avoiding death. Stick to the person that is most likely to carry. Keep your jungle cleared.


Protect your main carry with every possible action. Buy many wards and oracle. Build items like Infinity Edge, The Bloodthirster, Trinity Force...





I hope by now you realize that a clever build needs to be flexible. Every game has its own requirements and obviously teamplay is better than any build. Don't dismiss items just because you have never seen them on Udyr, you might just never have witnessed the situation where they come in handy.

Wards and Timers

"Wards enable victories!" - without wards, you are doomed because the odds will be against you in anything your team attempts. This section is not meant to transform you into a ward-spitter but alert you to buy some crucial wards early-mid game to shut down predictable ganks on top/mid when they are out of wards (1 ward), turn around the first roaming attempts from the enemy mid (1-2 wards) and secure yourself a red/blue/dragon (1 ward). Rest assured that those 200 gold are really worth it.

• Buying wards. Every ward means a prevented gank, a save invasion and a possible kill. They pay for themselves, get at least one in addition to your Wriggle's Lantern. You can type funny comments into the chat, to make your teammates buy wards.
• Where to place wards. Read this summary on warding. Important for you to ward are especially contested buffs, mid jungle entrances and the wraith camps.
  Warding also includes the wards of your teammates. One isolated ward helps far less than a line of two or 3 wards spread across the map. Coordinate warding with your teammates.
• Destroying wards. Getting an Oracle's Elixir is a high risk-reward action. It has the potential to totally cripple enemy map awareness and prevents the enemy team from ganking and steal buffs effectively. It is your duty as jungler to get an Oracle's Elixir once you won't die the moment enemies see you with it. As Twitch relies on his stealth to gank, shutting it down via Vision Wards can turn around ganks, and in high elo games, you can expect every lane to buy them. It is therefore vital that you don't linger, or expose yourself to risky and buy Vision Wards or Oracle's Elixirs of your own to counter the counter.
• Reacting to enemy Oracles. Everyone has been angry about the enemy getting an Oracle and you should play like you wouldn't have stealth (while useing it) until enemy oracle bearers are brought down.
• When to place wards. You are supposed to know the spawn and respawn times of major neutrals by heart and type them in the chat so your warding is timed well!
  • Baron Nashor will spawn at 15:00 and respawn every 7 minutes, his kill will give 300 gold AND 900 xp to each player of the successful team.
  • Dragon Ebenmaw will spawn at 2:30 and respawn every 6 minutes, his kill will grant 190 gold - but NO xp - to each player of the successful team.
  • Ancient Golem (Blue Buff: MReg and CDR) will spawn at 1:55 and respawn every 5 minutes, giving 92 gold and 295 xp.
  • Elder Lizzard (Red Buff: Dot and Slow) will spawn at 1:55 and respawn every 5 minutes, giving 92 gold and 274 xp.
  • Small Camps spawn at 1:39 and will respawn every 60 seconds, notice that while golems and wolves give around 60 gold and 150 xp, the wraith camp will only give 50 gold and 100 xp, thus counterjungling golems/wolves has a bigger impact than wraiths.
  If you time and get those buffs, you are a good jungler and likely to win.
• General summary of warding locations:
  • Early game: Enemy wraith camp or red/blue.
  • Mid game: Mid cross-sections and buffs/dragon when respawn is imminent.
  • Late game: Defensive or offensive warding of jungle cross-sections and of Baron - but avoid soloing.
  
  Remember that warding is an essential part of your duties and might have a bigger impact on the game than ganks.

Guidelines for decent Gaming

Honor the Summoners Code and behave like a decent Lady or Gentleman should.

• "That heal saved my life, thank you very much."
  (Say thank you.)
• "I underestimated my enemy, I am sorry and it was my mistake, it won't happen again, I promise."
  (Appologize for mistakes and inconveniences.)
• "Kind Sirs, getting Mercs against that team is a decent thing to do."
  (Give constructive and helpfull criticism.)
• "[\all] Talk kindly to your fellow gentleman, they played very well indeed."
  (Keep up a friendly atmosphere and be a good sportsman.)

Conclusion

I hope you learnt something from this guide, I wrote it to clear my thoughst on Twitch and to let others look at my conclusions. Credits go to jhoijhoi for learning about BBCode.
I am happy with this guide as it is. If you have something to add to my line of thoughs, write to me. I greatly appreciate discussion and arguments about builds, I don't want you to adapt my style, I see it as an experiment that yields good results and should be appreciated as such.

Thank you for reading!