So I've been playing Rumble on free week, and I absolutely love Rumble. For a mage, he's incredibly beefy, and can dish out an incredible amount of magic DPS throughout a match. On his release, I saw a great many people building him far more tanky than he needs to be--to me, it seemed like Rumble could benefit from my Kennen setup, and lo and behold, I've been roflstomping people in Normal queue because of it. So, without further ado, let me show you how to Rumble!

PROS
Obscene early game magic DPS
Great early game health for a mage
Has two wonderful slows, and they cripple enemies once you have Rylai's
Very short cooldowns
A well-timed Overheat can obliterate an opponent
He's voiced by Invader Zim!!

CONS
Heat system takes a bit to get used to
Targeting/placement on his ult takes quite a bit of practice
A poorly timed Overheat can absolutely shaft him
Good ranged harrassers can be a significant problem
Definitely going to get the nerf-bat soon :(

A great spell for Rumble, as it almost certainly guarantees kills when you combine it with his slows. Moreover, it's a good escape mechanism if things go sour.



On Rumble, I use this as much offensively as I do defensively--already, it's given me the ability to get the last few ticks of damage on an opponent who would have otherwise evaded getting barbequed. It's also helped me get the distance I need to safely Ghost/ Scrap Shield away.


I haven't really tried anything else on Rumble--I'm just too used to the mobility that Ghost and Flash provide. Honestly, Rumble has a built in Ignite (save the heal reduction) and Exhaust, so running those would be overkill. I don't usually wish I'd had Teleport in most games, but this is more personal preference than anything else. The other summoner spells are largely useless on Rumble or are better taken by other roles.

Since Rumble does a large amount of DPS, we need to make sure that as much or it gets through as possible.

Greater Seal of Vitality
These are a good boost to your midgame/pre-Rylai's game, though there's a strong case for Greater Seal of Defense due to Rumble's beefy-ness. I'll try them soon and see how I like them.


Scaling AP is a good boost to midgame before you have your heavy AP items, and it will only help your DPS.


These are a massive boost to your start-of-game DPS, and these are why I consistently get first blood with Flamespitter. I highly, highly recommend these.

Since Rumble is a tanky DPS, he gets the most benefit from your standard 9/21/0 setup. In Defense, I don't go for the Dodge tree because a 2% dodge chance is awful, and will very rarely proc. Everything else is standard: resistances, flat health, damage reduction, the works.

For Offense, you want your standard scaling AP/cooldown/Magic pen. Self-explanatory.

From my Kennen guide:

Kennen's abilities, being either highly spammable ( Thundering Shuriken) or area-of-effect (everything else), naturally have fairly poor AP scaling. On casters like Kennen, the easy mistake to make is to just grab all the flat AP you can--and what ends up happening is that you end up wasting a huge chunk of that AP on the enemy's magic resistance. I believe I've found a good balance between AP and MP on Kennen, and that's the idea behind this core set of items.

The same exact logic holds for Rumble, possibly even more so due to Rumble's shorter cooldowns and the fact that Rumble does DPS magic instead of burst magic.



A wonderful item on any tanky DPS, and Rumble is no exception. With this, my level 1 health is 707--pretty amazing for a mage, right? That much health, alongside his resistances, allows him to be extraordinarily aggressive with his early harrass.


Movement and flat magic penetration. Again, self-explanatory.


HUARGAHRGHAGRHAGH, THIS ITEM.

I can't think of any other champions that are so defined by a single item. Rylai's Crystal Scepter turns Rumble into a walking slow factory while also giving him more health and damage to his slows. Once you have Rylai's, you are virtually inescapable. Your first Electro-Harpoon shot becomes a weaker Ice Blast, and on the second hit it turns into a full-strength Wither. On The Equalizer, the stacked slows from it and Rylai's means that they'll be unable to get out of it until they've taken a large amount of damage. While your taser is on cooldown, your Flamespitter will apply a constant slow to them, letting you finish them off.


A massive boost to AP. Once you have this, it's usually GG.


This finishes out his tanky-ness, and provides the last bit of magic penetration Rumble needs in order to do maximum damage. I have always had a win after getting to this item.

My skill purchase order is fairly different that most Rumble guides, and once again, that comes from my experience with Kennen. Having a balance between Flamespitter and Electro-Harpoon allows Rumble to do heavy damage while also keeping enemies from espacing--i.e. not just a brick with a flamethrower.

I level Scrap Shield last since the damage it shields isn't that much, and it's been more useful as a tool for staying in the Danger Zone. With the cooldown masteries, it's perfectly timed for keeping you right at 60 Heat. With that in mind, I'd rather have high-damage slows than a mediocre escape mechanism.

You should almost always have this active. Since the cooldown is running while the ability is active, it has an effective cooldown of roughly 1s. Be careful about using this while at 70+ Heat though--there've been several instances when I've done that and either accidentally or absentmindedly activated another ability and Overheated when I didn't want to.


Like I said, I mainly use this for staying in the Danger Zone, and it excels at that function. It's also a great kiting tool: Flamespitter to drive your opponent back, Electro-Harpoon to chase, then Shield away once you're near their tower.


This is your only truly ranged harass, and it's an absolutely excellent chasing tool even at level 1. Whenever you see a champion step away from their minions, immediately shoot them, hopefully landing both shots, and then punish them with Flamespitter.

Something to note is that you can still fire the second shot of Harpoon even if the first shot causes you to Overheat. Abuse this if you get the chance--the stacked slows will let you thrash your opponent with the bonus damage from Overheat.

Like Kennen's Thundering Shuriken, I highly recommend learning how to use smart-cast, as it works wonders for your accuracy.


Holy ****, I love this ultimate. A ridiculously short cooldown, and the combo potential with your other slows and Rylai's make this a terrifying weapon in teamfights.

The two hardest things about this ult are how to actually cast it, and how you should place it. I'll definitely upload some videos if I can get my recording software to behave (incidentally, does anyone know of better software than LoLRecorder?), but in the meantime you can check out the other Rumble guides for good footage.

I highly recommend that your first couple of games with Rumble be Co-op, if for no other reason than to get used to and practice using this ultimate.

It's honestly very simple, and only requires the ability to keep a sharp eye on your Heat gauge and cooldowns at all times. The optimal Heat level is 60: at 60, you have two more ability uses before you Overheat, and you also have the ability to quickly drop down to 35 to enable a three-spell combo without Overheating.

If you're at 0 Heat, just Q-W-E to get yourself to 60 in a flash. Once at 60 Heat, just time your Scrap Shield to activate as soon as you get to 40 Heat, which is generally around less than a second after it comes off CD.

Riding in the Danger Zone takes a bit of practice, but after a few games following the procedure above, it'll come naturally, I promise!

Generally speaking, don't use it until you start getting into team fights. Your Flamespitter's DPS is more than enough to get a kill, so don't feel pressured into using Overheat to get a kill. Using Overheat to kill, especially in the early game, is incredibly dangerous and can very easily lead to your death if you're not careful.

Should you accidentally Overheat during laning phase, don't panic; just fall back a bit, wait for it to wear off, then go right back into harassing.

In teamfights, MAKE SURE YOU USE The Equalizer FIRST. If you Overheat without using it, you've just denied yourself a massive slow and source of damage. Now, once you've ulted, start spraying everything with Flamespitter, and Electro-Harpooning people that you can hit. If there's a squishy running low on health, use your Harpoon on them to Overheat, then hit them again to cripple them and trash them with Overheat's bonus damage.

Should you accidentally Overheat during a teamfight, again, don't panic; just start wailing on the nearest (and, preferably, squishiest) champion you can get to until the Overheat wears off.

Grab Doran's Shield and head to a lane, preferably with someone that has a slow, snare, or stun. With a bit of teamwork, you and your partner can usually get first blood and remain relatively unscathed. Stay in lane and farm up your Sorcerer's Boots and a Sight Ward, then return to your lane and farm up a Giant's Belt. At this point, you have a ton of health, so turret diving won't be too much of a problem if you aren't derpy about it.

You should have a Rylai's Crystal Scepter once teamfights start breaking out, and this is where you start wrecking ****. At this point, whether I get Rabadon's Deathcap or Abyssal Mask first depends on how injured I am after team fights. If you need the survivability, get the Scepter first; if not, go for Rabadon's, buying the Needlessly Large Rod first.

Like I've said, I haven't gotten past the items I've listed for the core; once I actually have a game where I don't faceroll everything in sight I'll update this section and the Items. :P

Rumble is hilariously awesome, and he greatly rewards aggressive, but smart, gameplay. Practice using The Equalizer, practice riding in the Danger Zone, and you're golden!

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