This guide is here to give new Taric players a taste of what awesome is. Because let's face it: as a champ, Taric is DIAMONDS!

He's a support/tank champ, with so much utility it hurts. He has an AoE burst, he has a passive armour buff, he has 2 self heals - one of which still heals him if he heals someone else, his ult not only heals him per second, but also buffs his and allies damage. Did I mention he also has a bursty attack that travels a fair distance and also stuns?

This is my first guide. Rate it. Love it. Hate it.

But always remember that this guide? this guide is DIAMONDS!

Runes are kinda funny with Taric. There are a few ways to build him, all are good, as is the general consensus, its up to your playstyle and preference.

I generally go Magic Pen Marks, Magic Resist Seals, and Flat/Per Level Cooldown Glyphs.

You can also go Full Ap (Ap marks, Seals, and Glyphs), Full Tank (MR glyphs, Armour Seals, AP Marks).

For Quints, I always go either 3 Move speed or 2 Attack Speed and 1 Magic Pen.

Now here's my reasoning:

Full Ap Taric heals for more than is imaginable, does TONS of damage, and buffs more. If you're going for first blood, AP Taric rocks. Then you build 1-2 less AP items, and build 1-2 more tanky items to compensate.

Full Tank Taric is the inverse of ^. He's untouchable early game, giving you tons of farm and allowing you to just build up 4-5 AP items.

Then we come to my personal Taric.

See, he gets armour from his E anyways, so I don't bother runing for it. Hence the MR Seals.

Cooldown reduction is a must, as his CD are way too long for all of his abilities except his ult (which isn't exactly something you need to spam anyways), so I put a combo into his glyphs. By the way, the CD glyph combo is pulled directly from the top rated Ryze guide on here. I find that having flat and per level CDR helps me better than all flat ( I miss out of a few crucial % late game) or all per level (I have less use early game).

As for my Magic Pen marks, I find that hitting harder with his E is always a bonus, but swapping them out for AP marks is also viable, and probably better in the long run (more power to your heals and to your spells). I tend to get my lane partner FB 70% of the time, get FB myself 15% of the time, and not be involved the other 15%, and having the Magic Pen helps with that, although, again, AP helps too.

Quints, I'm currently running the 2 AS and 1 MP quints. Attack Speed helps Taric regen his mana faster, although funning AS anywhere else in the runes limits his burst damage/healing power. I've seen other guides that claim AS helps tremendously, but how often mid-late game are you going to be utilizing the AS to regen mana, especially in a teamfight? Answer: Not at all. If you guess correctly, YOU WIN! What's the prize? Playing a better Taric. Or $5 if your mom's wallet is lying open. Shhh, don't tell her.

MASTERIES! Who doesn't love to sit for HOURS on end, theorycrafting what each point and little % bonus is worthwhile?

Not me.

Masteries are pretty straightforward. 3/8/19.

Offense: 3 in Archmage's Savvy (the +AP/lvl). It's like getting a free AP/lvl rune. Let's face it, you aren't dodging so Nimbleness doesn't work, minions do physical damage and therefore your E buff is sufficient to negate Defensive Mastery and Harden Skin is hardly worth even thinking about. You've also taken all of the worthwhile points in Utility, so there's nothing left.

Defensive: 3 in Resistance (+MR) for obvious reasons (YOU WANT MR AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE), 2 in Hardiness because you need to put the points in somewhere to move down the tiers, and extra armour never hurts. The 3 in Strength of Spirit is there to offset the downtime of your Ult. When your Ult isn't turned on and healing you, you need some way to compensate. This, coupled with the Tear of the Goddess you pick up early on, means you heal for a LOT. Also, Hp Regen helps you lane longer, helps you to change your target priority (casting on your partner rather than yourself), and means you spend less mana healing overall and you end up keeping more for whatever the situation needs.

Utility: 1 in Spatial Accuracy and 1 in Haste, because those are the summoner spells I use. More on that later. 3 in Perseverance for the same reason as Strength of Spirit, 4 in Expanded Mind to synergize with Strength of Spirit and because Mr Diamonds has problems with his mana...if you know what I mean. 3 in Meditation to offset the mana problems caused by your Ultimate as well as helping you to maintain your mana regen when you're not attacking. 1 in Greed because extra gold = items sooner, and Taric needs his items to heal and burst effectively. 3 in Quickness. More on that later. And finally 3 in Intelligence, because as I mentioned before, long CDs are a HUGE problem for Taric.

Here it is kiddies, the big Question: "What skills do I take, Mr Dan?"
- You tell us, you're the grownup.
that I am. Well kids, let's think about this for a moment.
- No. You do my thinking for me, clown.
Ha Ha Ha. Don't be rude now, child. What is the most crucial thing at the start of the game?
- Trash Talking? Doing Your Mom?
HA Ha Ha. (I'm going to punch you in your little mouth when this is over). No no no!


See, the most important things at the beginning of the game are 1st item and skill choice!

Follow Dandy Dan's Handy Dandy Question Box to figure out what skill you should take first!

Are you planning on first blood? Take your E skill, Dazzle! YOU CAN DAZZLE LIKE DIAMONDS!
Is your lane partner itching for First Blood? DAZZLE AGAIN!
Is your lane partner a complete tool and semi-******ed? Take Imbue, you're gonna need it.
Not planning on getting FB, or your lane partner didn't take a CC to start? Imbue.


TL;DR Imbue if you don't care about FB, Dazzle if you do.

Dazzle stuns, does that little bit of extra damage. Imbue keeps you both alive.

Whichever you take, grab the other at level 2.

"But why not take a second point in Imbue Mr Dan? I like healing, and my partner is getting hurt real bad!"

Then stun your opponent when they chase, and save your friend. Or get a kill.

Sometimes, a well-timed (or even not so well-timed) stun can save lives better than a heal. Remember: healing is for keeping you in the lane, stunning is for keeping you alive and them dead.

Take your W at level 3. Why? Because I effin said so. Sheesh, why all these questions?

But seriously, 2 tickets to that sweet DIAMONDS armour buff for you and a friend? What more could a girl ask for? DIAMONDS! (Sorry, I had to.)

Now that you have all of your skills, pick them as the following:

If you're getting fed like a fat man at a buffet:
Max Imbue, then Dazzle, then Shatter, taking points in your Ult when needed.

If you're not getting fed, but farming is your choice of occupation:
Alternate points in Imbue and Shatter, picking up your Ult when needed, then max out Dazzle.

If you're getting your butt handed to you on a platter made of DIAMONDS (yeah, i'm still doin this):
Max Imbue, Max Shatter, then Dazzle while taking your Ult when it presents itself.

Or, just take the sequence posted above, it's pretty DIAMONDS!

And now I shall discuss Taric's 2 Biggest PROBLEMOS!

Can you guess what they are?

I'll give you a hint:

It's his speed, and his cooldowns.

To compensate for his speed: 3 speed quints, 3 points in quickness, buy boots as your third item.
To compensate for his long CD: 3 points in Intelligence, CDR Flat and p/lvl glyphs, and Frozen Heart.

Start with a Sapphire Crystal, 1 Health Potion and 1 Mana Potion.

Build the Sapphire Crystal into a Tear of the Goddess and buy boots.

Keep your Tear until about 25 min in - something I learned from the Ryze guide is that the Tear earns you the mana FASTER than the Archangel, and since you're doing heals as often as possible, coupled with using Shatter to farm, you should be getting your mana's worth.

You need AP at this point, so grab an Amplifying Tome, and build it into a Kage's Lucky Pick.

From there, turn that into a Deathfire Grasp. Use this to help focus the carry or weaken the tank, or even to gank (Dazzle->Shatter->Deathfire)

Whenever you have leftover gold, pickup a Ruby Crystal, and turn it into a Leviathan. It's fantastic for helping you pull off your tanking role, reduces how much self-healing you need (sound familiar?), and flat reduces the damage you take, so even if you're a bit low on the Armour or Magic Resist, you're doing fine. And you can maintain the stacks by laning with a carry, or surviving teamfights, which is easy shmeezy.

Your passive gives armour, but not enough, and you need CDR. 1+1 = DIAMONDS. Of the Frozen Heart Variety.

Anytime after 25 min, build up your Tear to an Archangel's Staff. I say 25 min because that's usually when I personally feel that I've gained more than enough from farming for mana. You pick when.

Otherwise, build into whatever you feel is good for a 6th item.

Suggestions for tank-specific stuff: Guardian Angel, Force of Nature, Thornmail
Suggestions for caster-specific stufF: Rabadon's Deathcap, Void Staff, 2nd Archangel's Staff

But wait, Mr Dan. Your boots are still plain ol' boots.


Why yes, yes they are. Wanna know why?

Because 99% of the boots are useful to Taric, it depends entirely on the match.

Lots of CC on the opposing team and you don't feel like using up a summoner spell for cleanse? Take Merc Treads.

Find that your mana regen isn't enough? Berserker Greaves.

Find you have too much downtime with your abilities? Ionian Boots of Lucidity

Find you need a bit more tankishness to your build? Ninja Tabi

Find that you need a little more oomph in your Dazzle->Shatter combo? Sorc Treads

Find you need more movement speed during battle? Boots of Swiftness

Find you need more movement speed to get to a battle? Boots of Mobility

That about sums what his items.

- You should never mid or solo lane. You don't have the power to do it, but you do have the survivability to hold a lane til your partner returns.
- You want to team up with an AD Carry. Reason is that an AD carry usually (read: almost always) has early power but not survivability, which is where you come in. Lane dominance erupts when you can keep an AD carry alive early game. I prefer someone like Tryndamere, Jax, Xin, etc. Even a well-bred Ashe is a good fit, sometimes.
- Lane partner preference falls to Melee. Reason is this: people keep their distance from ranged champs, you need them to want to come in close so you can stun them and burst them down with your partner. This happens exponentially less often if you bring a ranged partner, especially when they know that you can stun then, and have someone like ashe, cait, mf pick them off as they run away. Unless your opponents are vapid, in which case, have at 'em. LIKE DIAMONDS!
- Although I posted an item build above, don't let that be set in stone. If you think you will be in lane longer and need to spend your spells more carefully, maybe take the Meki Pendant first instead. The entire build is variable. Its designed to give you an idea of how Taric works, so that you can build him better to the context of your match.
- Always let your teammates take the kills. Taric is definately not a carry, and he works quite well if he's 0/0/10, as an example. I've had similar matches, where I finished 3/4/21, and only got my kills in the last 5 minutes when I'd go for a stun and get the kill, or burst my shatter and get a double kill.
- Always keep in mind that Taric is not here to kill people. He's not there to gank or chase. He's there to lightly harass, but overall to soak up damage, dive towers, and buff/help your teammates.