Basically, this is one big Taric guide which is going to explain and expand on the roles of all three of, what I see as, the best ways to play Taric.

Build 1: AP (The one on the far left)
Build 2: Roaming (The one in the middle)
Build 3: Aura (The one on the far right)

Constructive criticism is welcome.
Thanks, and have fun playing Taric! ^o^

Introduction to AP:

I see this as, basically, the most heal-type support way of playing Taric. As I said a moment before, it is HEALING BASED. However, saying that, it also procs a truly, truly outrageous damage output (no pun intended) on both his Shatter and Dazzle.

Masteries:

The reason I go 9/0/21 is so that, while having some very useful Utility bonuses such as some extra mana regen, CDR, MS and improved Summoner Spells, I can still hit decently with my Dazzle and Shatter. Trust me, that 15% increased Magic Penetration is worth the nine points - and hey, you get a nice 3% CDR and 0.6 AP/level to top it off.

Runes:

Marks:
I advise, strongly, for you to take the Greater Mark of Replenishment over the extra AS. Seriously, the only reason I put it up there is because some people who have no idea how to play Taric will just rage at me that his Passive synchs perfectly with AS - well, yeah, in fact it does, but the problem there is that Taric's passive is total bull; useless.

Seals:
This is all based on your play-style, so let me make clear to you which runes you should take based on how you play:
- If you like to savour your mana more and pace out your heals to keep a relatively high level of health while not wasting too much mana then I advise going for the flat-out mana runes - Greater Seal of Intellect;
- If you like to heal in bursts from low health upwards or just tend to use your abiltiies in short, strong bursts, I advise taking the mana regen, as it lets you replenish your mana quickly back up to full for repetitive bursting - Greater Seal of Replenishment;
- If you find you just want a little more power on your abilties I advise you take the flat-out AP runes - Greater Seal of Potency.

Glyphs:
Again, based almost completely on your playstyle. Let me quickly make clear to you which runes to take, based on your way of playing:
- If you play more offensively with your abilties and go for kills with your laning partner, I advise taking the flat-out AP runes - Greater Glyph of Potency;
- If you like to play more defensively with your abilties during the laning phase and you prioritize playing slightly more offensively towards late game, I advise taking the AP/level runes - Greater Glyph of Force;
- If you like to spam your spells on a more frequent basis and you've already covered mana regen then I advise taking the CDR runes - Greater Glyph of Focus.

Quintessences:
Based on personal preference to be honest. If you want to play more aggressively and would like a little more power on your abilties then take Greater Quintessence of Potency and if you play, perhaps, more defensively and would like some extra meat on your bones then take the Greater Quintessence of Fortitude.

Skill Sequence:

Passive:
Useless. Do not try and make use of this by utilizing AS for fast mana regeneration and never use it to regen your mana unless you're completely sure that you are alone in the lane and there is no way of you getting ganked during the period of time you are hitting creeps. For all the good it'll do you, it's a little plus for when you're hitting creeps to lower the cooldown on Imbue.

Imbue:
Your primary skill - maxed as soon as possible. This makes you practically unbeatable in-lane. You can completely negate harass for both you and your laning partner, so that they, preferrably being a carry, can continue to deal their damage while you remain almost completely un-scathed. Also, it's on quite a lengthy cooldown and hitting stuff lowers that, so ideally you want be smashing at creeps to lower this thing's cooldown. But, warning here, do not start utilizing AS to make better use of this.

Shatter:
This is what gives Taric such an outrageous burst damage and amazing minion-farming capability - so if it ever looks as if your lane partner isn't going to get back in time, feel free to pop this for some 100-250 gold. Also, use this for repelling meele champion's advances, combined with a stun from Dazzle of course, to send them running right back to their turret; but never forget, you can use this offensively aswell. HOWEVER, and I stress this point, ONLY USE IT OFFENSIVELY WHEN GOING IN FOR THE KILL. This is not a skill that should be used to harass, since when you pop it you do actually LOSE pretty much all of your tanky properties, seeing as during the laning phase this is your greatest source of defense.

Dazzle:
This skill can be used as both part of your burst damage combo, combined with a Shatter, or as a multi-purpose stun for either:
- Disabling Channeling effects such as Nunu's or Katarina's Ultimates;
- Repelling a melee attack during the laning phase;
- Repelling ganks;
- Disabling any enemy champions when going in for the kill;
- Opening ganks.
Also, it is quite a pro over some other stuns and abilties as it is quite subtle and extremely hard to pick out in the midst of a teamfight. Stuns which come out of nowhere are much harder to prepare, counter or get ready for than ones like Annie's - she practically has a personal siren screaming out to everybody: 'LOOK AT ME, I'VE GOT A STUN READY SO JUST GET PREPARED GUYS!' Also, speaking of team fights, remember to save your stun if you know they have a champion with a channeling Ultimate off its cooldown. eg. Warwick, Nunu, Katarina, Fiddlesticks.

Radiance:
This is pretty much useful for only two things, and maybe in some cases, three:
- Tanking turrets;
- Opening ganks; (I'm thinking on this; the small damage buff isn't too great)
- (If it be absolutely necessary) Emergency healing if you are being chased on low health and Imbue is still on cooldown.
I personally don't think this Ultimate is too great.

Items:

Seeing as this is an AP build, surprise surprise, these are all AP-based items. However, I also threw in some other items to help beef you up a little, which helps when it comes to initiating/semi-tanking if it arises to need be. Boots = compulsory. Period. CC kills Taric. Boots kill CC. Simple enough, right?
Now, here's the sequence that you buy each item in:
- Starter: Now, here you have to make a decision based on who you think you are going to be going up against and how you'd like to play out your laning phase.
You can either go with a Meki Pendant and Health Potx2 for a rush into your Tear of the Godddess, which can be useful if you aren't needing the extra health and AP - so probably if you've gone Quintessence of Fortitude and flat-out AP Seals/Glyphs. Otherwise, I advise taking the Doran's Ring very strongly - 100 extra health, 15 AP and still some nice mana regen is definitely a plus over a simple flat mana regen, even if you do have two health pots to go with it, your Imbue already covers that well enough.
- First recall: Ideally you're going to want to be able to buy Aegis of the Legion straight off the bat on your first recall, but that usually isn't possible. If you're having problems coping with mana then take a Tear of the Goddess, otherwise grab a Blasting Wand for a nice boost for your abilities and make your way back to the lane as quickly as possible.
- Second recall: You're going to be needing the mana/AP now, so whichever you bought (Blasting Wand vs. Tear of the Goddess), now buy the other to finish the combo and if possible grab your, straight into Mercury's Treads actually if possible, first pair of boots, Boots of Speed.
- Third recall: By now the laning phase should be pretty much closing and occassions for team fights will start becoming visible, so you're going to need that Aegis of the Legion - and yes, I know that this is an AP-based build, but seriously, at least ONE AURA IS COMPULSORY when you're playing very much the most sort of classic 'support'-y build. However, if you are feeling that your abilties will not have enough nuking power to be able to cope, then you're going to have to take a Needlessly Large Rod.
- Fourth Recall: After your first team fight you will probably be needing to recall, so based on how much cash you have try and range between finishing your Manume-buying some of the first components of the finishing three items.
- Fifth Recall Upwards: Just think logically for these next purchases - needing some more beef? Get a Rylai's. Needing some extra beed/mana all-round? Catalyst. Needing some extra AP? Rabadon's. And so on . . .

Your role in the game:

During the laning phase keep your carry alive and try to get them 2 kills or if possible even more than that, ideally.
During team fights heal the most important of your champions, eg. your main AP and AD carry, stun the most deadly enemy targets, eg. strong channeling Ultimates or their AP and AD carries, and hit a few auto-attacks from time to time to lower the cooldown on your heal, so you can sustainably keep them alive. You should be keeping on the outskirts of the fight, only diving in when necessary to either tank some damage for your carries (but not too much, mid. I see some Taric players trying to play their team's tank at times and it doesn't end well for them), cancel out a strong channeling Ultimate or save a low team mate with a last-second Imbue.
Try and pop some Wards here and there if your team isn't going to be doing that, but not too many. You're going to need the money for your other items. Only very important locations such as Dragon and Baron/some river brush which are likely and common ganking spots that the enemy favours, if you can sense them out.

Summoner Spells:

Ghost: Can be used well to open ganks as well as escape ganks and can be used in countless different escapive and offensive ways. A great summoner spell overall.
Clarity: Pretty self-explanatory. This way of playing Taric is going to eat up a lot of mana, and it's always handy when you have a mana-hungry laning partner.

That is pretty much all there is to playing Build 1. So get out there and start winning matches with AP Taric! : )

Introduction to Roaming:

This is probably the most flexible way of playing Taric and focuses very strongly on map awareness. However, it is also the build with the most comfortable map mobility and ability to be able to shift about to help in other lanes aswell as set up several different ganks in many map locations. To sum this build up with one word, I would say flexible.

Masteries:

The reason I go 0/9/21 is so that, while having some very useful Utility bonuses such as mana regen, XP boost, CDR, MS, gold/10 seconds and improved Summoner Spells, I still have a little increased survivability invested in my Defense tree.

Runes:

Marks:
I always advise taking flat armour to synch with his Shatter's passive, which is where Taric really specializes. At just as low as level 11 he can already be as high as 130+ on his armour. Focusing flat armour also helps immensely during the laning phase, especially early on in the game. At level two he can already be at, with Marks and Shatter's Passive and his base armor put together, 50 armour. Now, that's pretty impressive seeing as by that level most AD carries only have around 60 AD plus an Longsword/Doran's Blade item.

Seals:
Same as in the above, taking flat armour synchs perfectly with Shatter's passive, and combined with Marks and Shatter's Passive you can be at as high as 60 armour at level 2, meaning that a paired AD-based damage pair is going to have some DEFINITE trouble keeping up with you during the laning phase.

Glyphs:
This depends on your playstyle almost entirely. So, let me quickly make clear to you which runes you should take, depending on how you play Taric:
- If you like to play more offensively and play out early game more strongly then take the Greater Glyph of Warding - flat-out MR.
- If you like to play more defensively during the very early stages and focus on playing out the match in its later stages then take the Greater Glyph of Shielding - MR/level.

Quintessences:
Based on personal preference as far as Greater Quintessence of Fortitude and Greater Quintessence of Swiftness go. I see Greater Quintessence of Avarice as compulsory - that extra gold buff is amazing. Around 300 gold throughout the entire match really doesn't seem like much, does it? But when you combine it with Greed in your Utility mastery tree and Heart of Golds, it can add up to as much as 2000 gold throughout the match, which is quite something if you think about it. You are, practically, buying yourself a whole Aegis of the Legion in runes and masteries.
Now, back to deciding wether flat-out health or MS is for you. Well, if you like playing very offensively or you roam a lot (a lot for even a roaming build), then take the Greater Quintessence of Swiftnesss. If you like playing a little more defensively early-game and you roam a little less, take the Greater Quintessence of Fortitudes.

Skill Sequence:

Passive:
Useless. Do not try and make use of this by utilizing AS for fast mana regeneration and never use it to regen your mana unless you're completely sure that you are alone in the lane and there is no way of you getting ganked during the period of time you are hitting creeps. For all the good it'll do you, it's a little plus for when you're last hitting creeps for gold.

Imbue:
Another pretty much useless skill. Use this only to heal yourself in the lane when you're pretty much on full mana or to save the life of an extremely low team mate. Otherwise, I really can't see this skill as being of much help at all.

Shatter:
Your primary skill and your greatest source of defense and offence throughout levels 1-11 or somewhat. Max this first. It is very multi-purpose and can be used for all the following:
- Quick burst damage when going in for a kill;
- Repelling a melee attack; (if they try to come at you, a Dazzle, Shatter and two-three autoattacks should send them running back to mommy)
- AoE, minion-farming godliness;
- Amazing armour buff which is PASSIVE.

Dazzle:
This skill can be used as both part of your burst damage combo, combined with a Shatter, or as a multi-purpose stun for either:
- Disabling Channeling effects such as Nunu's or Katarina's Ultimates;
- Repelling a melee attack during the laning phase;
- Repelling ganks;
- Disabling any enemy champions when going in for the kill;
- Opening ganks.
Also, it is quite a pro over some other stuns and abilties as it is quite subtle and extremely hard to pick out in the midst of a teamfight. Stuns which come out of nowhere are much harder to prepare, counter or get ready for than ones like Annie's - she practically has a personal siren screaming out to everybody: 'LOOK AT ME, I'VE GOT A STUN READY SO JUST GET PREPARED GUYS!' Also, speaking of team fights, remember to save your stun if you know they have a champion with a channeling Ultimate off its cooldown. eg. Warwick, Nunu, Katarina, Fiddlesticks.

Radiance:
This is pretty much useful for only two things, and maybe in some cases, three:
- Tanking turrets;
- Opening ganks; (I'm thinking on this; the small damage buff isn't too great)
- (If it be absolutely necessary) Emergency healing if you are being chased on low health and Imbue is still on cooldown.
I personally don't think this Ultimate is too great.

Items:

Seeing as this is a Roaming build, these items are built to fit in with this role.
- Starter: Early boots are practically perfect for roaming as you have a much better mobility, plus, if you took flat MS Quintessences, you will be even faster. Perfect for getting around the map to aid in ganks and anything of the sort. You should, ideally, until you've hit all three of your Heart of Golds, be running between your lane and mid to aid in ganks and suchlike. You will either, due to the psychological effect on their mid champion, allow your mid champion to completely and utterly dominate the lane, or, if they over-extend, get a few kills for them. The same pretty much goes for your lane.
- First recall: You're going to want enough cash to buy on a rough estimate two HoGs, ideally three, and a few wards to help sustain map awareness on your side of the river (from your lane stretching to mid), which you should be completely dominating by now.
- Second recall: Build your set of boots into either Mercury's or Boots of Mobility based on how you're doing. If you are taking a lot of heavy CC then get Mercury's. If you are having a hard time coping with getting between the lanes while maintaining a steady incoming flow of XP then take Botos of Mobility, and build as far into Aegis of the Legion as possible.
- Third recall: You should be able to build into Aegis of the Legion pretty fast with all the gold/second you've got now, so as soon as you can afford it blue pill back to buy it. Try and squeeze some wards in there aswell.
- Fourth recall: If you're doing very well then buy some form of defensive item. Either a Guardian's Angel or Banshee's Veil or whatever you're needing. Obviously, if they've got a lot of spammable spells which kill the shield on Banshee's Veil then it kind of loses its worth, so just think logically about which item you're going to buy. Also, and I can't stress this enough, WARD. WARD, WARD, WAAAAARD. Buy them like mad.

Your role in the game:

For the main part of your early game you're going to be darting between mid and your lane, warding the river and brushes on both, aswell as setting up ganks and popping in with Radiance to save turrets from being destroyed. The psychological effect goes like this: 'OMFG TARIC JUST . . . I JUST GOT STUNNED BY HIM AND I DIDN'T SEE IT!? WHAT!? HAX!' and now they are cautious, so they hug their turret, too scared to stray out from its shooting range, meaning that they are missing out on a lot of gold and XP. As soon as the effect fades, they will come back out again, and they will get ganked by you and your mid champion and die. Try and get the same thing going on bottom with the help of your mid partner. Oh, and by the way, if they always seem to be psychic and evading all of your ganks before you get close, they have probably warded the bush. So buy Oracles. It's worth it. One you have hit your pair of upgraded boots keep on doing this, except now you can extend into their jungle on both sides of the river and you pretty much have the whole map to your Roaming freedom. So long as you are keeping the whole map warded like you should be, nobody will escape your eagle vision . . . with sonar, thermal vision and scope x3 over the whole map. Junglers will die. People wandering off solo down the river will die. Baron and dragon will be ganked at and stolen. They WILL die. Remember this: SEEING IS WINNING. During team fights, simply play as you should. Heal team mates who are very low, keep Radiance up, keep close and keep Aegis of the Legion's aura up. Cancel strong channelling Ultimates like Katarina's, Nunu's Fiddlesticks'. Now, I have to stress this - Roaming Taric is based on settling strong foundations for the rest of your team and putting them in a great advantage, NOT YOURSELF, so that, while you are not so great in a team fight, they can still dominate completely. Full map awareness means that you can always pick off that loner who decides to stray away from his turret or go for Red/Blue buff, and team fights are always at least 4v5, maybe even 3v5. That's all for your role in the game.

Summoner Spells:

Clarivoyance: As I've said before, seeing is winning. Clarivoyance is pretty self-explanatory when it comes to this. Blow it on rivers when it seems like a gank is brewing in a certain area, and pop it on the enemy jungler from time to time to see if you can land a gank to kill off their farm.
Flash: Great for getting out of situations aswell as into them. Offensive and defensive/evasive use. It is quite a multi-purpose spell, so I take it. It can be substituted for Ghost if you prefer it, I guess.

That is pretty much all there is to playing Build 2. So get out there and start winning matches with Roaming Taric! : )

COMING SOON

Simply because I do not have the time at the moment to build this guide. However, I will be releasing it in future, as I will be updating relatively frequently. So stay tuned. Please do not mark this guide down for this simple fact, but instead treat it as simply a AP/Roaming Guide. Please mark it as so.
Thank you.