As first guides go, this one is pretty fantastic. Not necessarily for you, but for me, it's a fine time. The guidecrafter built into MobaFire here is pretty sick. That said, let's get on with it. I'm a complete and absolute amateur, with no ELO cred whatsoever, so don't bother looking. I am simply excited about my new favorite flavors of the month in unranked solo Q which seem to be crushing the opposition. /disclaimer

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This is now an ongoing project as I explore the best champions, builds, protocols, tips and tricks that herald the beginning of my pro career. (lol). I'm starting with a focus on the support role in Summoner's Rift- please enjoy.

Dinger stomps on the Terra. Sometimes with his 'Fro. But for that to happen at the enemy Nexus, you can't be that squishy little overripe-grape Dinger who gets one- and two-shotted. Armor marks AND seals make this work in the early to mid game- and honestly, 21 armor is useful all the way through. Flat MR glyphs: early-game magic damage burst sucks, unless you're the one doing it. Gold Quintessences are a must- thou shalt not steal thy adc's farm. ** TL;DR:


Zyra's another matter. She has fantastic cc out the gate with her E, to be honest, but her plants attack much slower than Dinger's turrets, for example, so there needs to be some punch behind that poisonous azalea. I prefer magic pen marks, armor seals, flat AP glyphs and flat AP quints. The early game harassment potential means that I feed my AD Carry kills upon kills, sometimes even when the enemy jungler comes to visit early on.

Mastery Tree Visual Aid


Offense Tree: Four points into cooldown reduction, no surprise there, and I plunk one point into the second tier for Expose Weakness. Four other people hitting your target means 4% extra damage. That matters.

Defense Tree: We've taken care of the uber-squishiness with our rune page, so the only priority here is taking the HP per 5 to synergize with Dingerpassive and the core support items (beginning with the ancient coin).

Utility Tree: This is the major focus of a truly great support, thanks to the mastery changes by Riot. All the way up the tree, grabbing a couple of points in lifesteal/spellvamp for further sustain synergy. Biscuitry is a noble art but I'd rather have passive effects and keep that item slot open for wards.

: I can't say enough about this item. Someone finally went and put in GP10 items with versatility. This particular path, building into the Talisman of Ascension contributes to a great passive income for a support.

: Jungle or Support, you need to be disabling and destroying enemy wards. Other positions taking this cuts down on the free-ward-trinket wards, but can provide a constant vision-scouting theme. When properly executed, I'd imagine that's a good aggressive strategy on SR these days- haven't had time to watch LCS in forever.

: Naturally your mileage will vary, but there's no better feeling than being a support with the freedom to truly spam. Zyra has an easier time filling a Tear, especially maxing W first for scouting and CDR. Heimer has a fairly easy road with it as well- 3 turrets at a time, thank you thank you thank you Riot for making Dinger (potentially) relevant again.

: There are rare exceptions to having this... with Heimer it's really a fair portion of his sustain equation, and as such should be rushed post-tear unless your team is REALLY lacking offense, in which case you may need to rush a in order to shut down bruiser-bullying. If the enemy team is heavy on physical damage, then you may also wish to exclude this in favor of another item.

Talisman of Ascension : The Ancient Coin becomes the Shurelya's in Mana-Manipulator clothing. Ahh, a truly great support item. Active AOE movespeed boost, tons of regen, CDR...

: The Non-Blade of the Perfectly Successful King (of AP support). %HP Shred is priceless, no matter what situation or game-mode, honestly. I'll rush this after a Tear on Zyra often, less so with Heimer.

: Supports are tasked with managing the flow of the lane and later with the flow of battles, and ultimately the game. Many positions have teamfight- and game-changing ABILITIES, but a good support is actively shaping the conflict, often through crowd control. The RCS provides tankiness and AP, and synergizes with to burn down the opposition.

What you do beyond these core items is up to you, have fun with it!

This is a matter of contention among Dingerplayers- many will swear by maxing first, for frightening poke-harass. However, if you want to be a kill lane, there are many, many better options. Max your turrets or grenades first. I prefer , but it's down to playstyle. The shorter cooldown on CH-1 Electron Storm Grenade means (if you're good at the skillshot) a sick amount of stunning/slowing harassment on the enemy adc.

Zyra can be grown(ha) a number of ways, but for the support role I prefer to hit her with everything I've got. I'll begin most often with to check brush and guard against early gankage, taking Rampant Growth (w) next, followed by Deadly Bloom. I then max , putting spare points into the Grasping Roots and taking whenever possible.

Flash/Teleport.

Dinger is indeed a mage. He is also a support. He is also, in my opinion, one of the best pushers in the game, and it is this angle that I choose to accentuate and exploit when playing him. Turrets go dormant, but remain as static wards that do not die until replaced or destroyed. Thus, they also serve as perfect return-trip teleport targets. The distortion enchantment for your boots is quite viable here, as it gives the ability to move around the map with almost unparalleled ease. People talk trash quite often when I bring teleport, but honestly, I'll take my low-cooldown stun/slow over a LONG-cooldown exhaust... waste of a summoner slot when TP makes a pusher a megapusher. Those same trash-talkers are the ones who still think THEY won the game by chasing kills in the jungle while Dinger split-pushes the enemy base into ruins.

Here's the big one. This is the make-or-break quality to Dinger, the concept that makes so many people write off this amazing champion. Some Tips:

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Know your enemy, but know your friends: work your push behind or alongside teammates, as appropriate.

* Your greatest asset in a teamfight is understanding the situation. Most cluster-action fights can be won by your team with a single move- Dinger's SuperNade. 3 bounces of massive AOE stun/slow goodness. 2v2 in the jungle? Pop out a MegaTurret and try not to spray drink on your keyboard when laughing. Caught out 1v1? Plunk down a turret or two, grenade stun, and mega-rocket burst them into a gentler attitude. Back, you dirty apes, indeed.

* In the laning phase, don't use your turrets to clear minions unless pushed to your tower. Use one turret in the river bush as a constant ward- dormant ones reactivate when you get close, so you can face-check without face-checking. Your other two turrets should be used to provide a sort of 'safe zone' or used far behind enemy minion lines if you and your adc are zoning the enemy botlane out.

* Remember that you are a pusher and a healer- the heroin-slingin' Mother Superior with the Golden 'Fro. Allied champions near you bask in your Dingerness, receiving 40 hp5 and 20 MR (without Zeke's) ON TOP of whatever defenses they possess. Dinger is a support, but also a projection of power- the aircraft carrier of LoL.

* The itemization is a hybrid- supporting with Talisman/Locket, but staying relevant in the damage game via Seraph's, Liandry's, and Rylai's. Wow, three possessive short_names. You can burn down tanks with short-CD turrets and poke, or pacify carries with a grenade in a pinch. (Practice this skillshot- leading with it and identifying orbwalking carries (time their next attack for the spot to toss your nade).

* Only take a blue buff if it's the enemy's or if your mid/jungle don't need it. You don't need the CDR, and you shouldn't need the mp5 past getting your Tear (which should be early).
Dinger can split-push with teleport, and he is able to handle some champions or even combinations of champions relatively easily, but you are not invincible! Turrets die, rockets and grenades miss, and Dinger's not beating most people in a footrace.

This is a guide designed for strategic victory, even in the face of less-than-optimal circumstances across the map. Using the slow-juggernaut approach, I usually get my adc fed by midgame, punishing over-extenders and gank attempts. If my adc disconnects, I solo-lane and get fed- Dinger's excellent for 2v1 laning. If my adc gets bloodthirsty and feeds, I'm STILL not losing the lane. When (not if) the bot lane is pushed to the inner turret, roam! Grenades make for great ganks, especially the big kind.

That's it for now, Summoners. Big ups to MobaFire for being a great community, to jhoijhoi for making the guide-builder template (right?), to all Summoners for making this the most watched and played competitive sport in the world. Cheers to Man Dinh for inspiring me to take Dinger as my first favorite champion.

Remember, this IS a game, and if you're here reading guides (especially this one), you're probably NOT getting paid to play the game, so don't treat it like work. I love this champion and this build because he's a strong presence from start to finish, and he can dominate the map strategically if played correctly. However, Dinger is also just SO MUCH FUN to play, don't ignore that aspect! If you have a couple friends to play with, have them grab high-damage champs and try this build on Twisted Treeline, too. Tons of fun. Good luck, have fun, and I'll see you in the Rift, the Abyss, the Treeline, and the Showdown.