Pro's
1) Really fun to play
2) Can use stealth to position himself before fighting
3) His combo goes off fast in combination with his slow
4) Fantastic ganker even with low stealth time.
5) An ult that can hit the entire enemy team and apply all on-hit effects.

Con's
1) oracles and wards require you to change how you are playing your game
2) You're squishy as hell, forget that for even a moment and you're doomed to failure. This is why he is so position dependent
3) Has a rough time working through early game against some lanes
4) You have to be steady (this goes out to the new LoL players). I throw this out there because I made this mistake a few times when I was just starting out. Being squishy, you MUST keep your distance in a team fight. Your hand has to be steady even during a cluster**** otherwise you'll mis-click and accidentally get too close. This leads to minimal damage and a dead rat.

Statistically flat attack damage is best for level one combat and with the current status Twitch is in, that should be one of your greatest emphasis when deciding your rune page. The little bit of added armor pen just gives you a little more potency later on. Marks giving Crit Chance and Attack Speed are "viable" also, but they really are less helpful in comparison to marks in damage and armor penetration. I don't really think any Twitch players will argue with me that flat damage and/or penetration is the way to go here.

Because reworked Twitch is such a more powerful laner and is less viable to roam with constantly it is important to be able to withstand everything your lane can toss at you. Armor in this spot is the thing you'll be thankful you had after fighting the other AD carry botlane. With Twitch I tend to watch my distance carefully so if I'm feeling on my game and know I'm laning with a good partner I'm not totally against buffing my damage output with attack speed seals or something of the like. Generally speaking though the flat armor is the most reliable and most necessary stat to put in this slot.

With the rework this area has been more versatile than ever before. With less reliance on the ability to roam Twitch does not often need to worry about early game bursts of magic damage. This means this spot can go towards prepping for late game. With your ult the burst damage that is going to be able to reach you MORE OFTEN is the long reaching abilities of AP casters. Clearly Twitch isn't going to load up on boatloads of MR every game so this is a good choice to set yourself up for success. If you're still uncomfortable with your ability as a Twitch player to make it through early game then glyph s of flat MR are ok too.

Alright so lets talk about these. Now-a-days Twitch can be far more versatile with the masteries he would like to use because his build and play-style used to be extremely limited. Here's what I would say though are probably your most effective setups.

Defensive Set

Offensive Set

Best of Both Worlds (My Preferred)

Before I took a hard look at how I was playing with Twitch I always used Teleport and Exhaust. I have since broadened that horizon and I'll explain why as I go through all viable spells for the rat.

Simply beautiful. This is a wonderfully versatile spell and I cant recommend it enough. This helps you secure kills, escape ganks and even dive occasionally. Always take it.

With a second DoT around and a mastery that makes your Expunge stronger, this is my kill spell of choice. It's pretty self explanatory.

This is a good one. Nothing better than shrugging off a bunch of crowd control and strolling away unscathed. In my eyes this spell is really only good for saving your own *** when you've made the mistake of letting your opponent get their hands on you in the wrong spot. If you play carefully and don't waste flash all the time you're fine without it.

Exhaust can help not only with securing a kill, but also the getaway, which is nice. I prefer Ignite, but if you're having some trouble securing kills and getting away after, go with Exhaust. Now what about taking both? If you were to do that you wouldn't be able to have Flash, and I can't recommend that.

I used this for the sole reason of getting me back in lane faster. I no longer use it because it is much less versatile than flash and with boots as your first buy you shouldn't need to rely on it. The one thing limited by NOT having this is your ability to run over and backdoor when a minion wave reaches a turret.

This one is nice because a lot of people underestimate it. Early game if often leads to a couple kills for that reason, but late game it's not a big deal so I pass. As a word of warning, watch for enemy Ignite. If you ignore that and then rely on Heal you could be in trouble.

It always pays to know where your opponents are, but between stealth and wards you should be able to cover things pretty well without it. Besides your support should be rolling with it regardless.

I haven't tested it a lot but I can't say I'm a fan. The relevance of the attack speed boost decreases as you hit late game and you have a built in steroid anyway. Ruined by Exhaust too so I just can't encourage this

Twitch can certainly have some mana issues early game, but to me it doesn't really warrant the use of this. It's almost useless on him by endgame, not to mention his allies wont get that much out of it by endgame either.

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Deadly Venom: Twitch's basic attacks infect the target, dealing 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 true damage every second for 6 seconds, stacking up to 6 times

This is what makes you so nasty early game. Just landing a couple of shots deals and extra 24 damage at level one. The fact that it does true damage is really nice, because it can't be reduced by resistances. Keep in mind that stacking this is one of the keys to your success all game.

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Ambush: After 1.25 seconds (delayed up to 3 seconds if taking damage), Twitch becomes invisible for a short duration. While stealthed, Twitch gains 20% movement speed. Twitch gains bonus attack speed for 5 seconds after revealing himself

• Activate this ability right before going b and you'll be making an invisible recall
• You have a short advantage if you make sure they don't see you enter stealth
• Used more for positioning and getting the drop than roaming and scouting.

It's this ability that makes you who you are, even if it's shorter than it used to be. Even the short duration is great for making unannounced entrances, quickly scouting an individual bush early game (particularly when invading) and juking like a boss. The first tip is why I recommend Improved Recall . Including your fade time you can make a full retreat in stealth by lvl 3 of this ability. I'll cover more specific and creative uses of this ability later on.

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Venom Cask: Twitch hurls a cask of venom that explodes in an area, adding 2 stacks of Deadly Venom and slowing targets hit for 3 seconds.

• Good for scouting bushes when stealthing is too dangerous later on.
• Use when initiating right after the first shot. (particularly for harass)
• Can be used to prep for combat due to its range being longer than your attack

This to me is Twitch's only slightly lackluster ability. The slow itself isn't phenomenal, but it's still a helpful tool to have. Getting used to the blast radius and travel time is simply something you have to get used to. The fact that I can use it in lane at such a distance allows me to pester my opponent. Letting those two stacks tick away and then firing another shot out of stealth gives you quite a long time of ticking damage. It's not absurdly strong, but it's a good edge at the least.

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Expunge Expunge: Deals physical damage to all nearby enemies affected by Deadly Venom. Expunge deals increased damage for each stack of Deadly Venom that is active on the target.

• Scales off of your bonus AD. (150% at 6 stacks of poison)
• Because it doesn't consume the poison, use it immediately upon hitting 6 stacks
• Starts off fairly weak and is not to be spammed in lane.

It used to be that this ability was what you had going for you early game, now it's quite the opposite. The ability ends up being a big part of your kit later in the game once you have some bonus AD on your belt. Using it as soon as you hit six stacks will allow you to cast it more than once in more drawn out fights. Mid-game it can be used more often in tandem with other abilities for a little harass. (P.S. - if you like to ks THIS IS THE ABILITY FOR YOU)

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Spray and Pray: For 7 seconds Twitch gains 300 attack range, bonus attack damage and his basic attacks become piercing bolts that deal 20% less damage to subsequent targets, down to a minimum of 40% damage.

• Good for both late game fights and intense 1v1 Scenarios
• To be used sparingly during ganks
• Gives you range longer than turrets.

This is a wonderful ability in some situations, and a problem in others. Since your attacks act like skill shots you can end up missing. For example, if you're coming out of stealth for a gank and you're off to the side of where your opponent will simply be strafing your shots. This ability though is great for clearing waves and holding off opponents from behind your turret because of its extreme range. For that same reason it's great for toppling towers at low health before anyone can realize what you're doing. The more you play Twitch the more you'll know when to pop this ult and when your attacks will be more reliable.

Alright folks I’m gonna break this one down pretty heavy. Even though good judgment could tell you a lot of the things I’m going to share here, not everyone who’s reading this has long term experience at LoL and I want to do the best job I can at teaching an understanding of itemization (for Twitch specifically, but it will carry over into other areas). And lets be honest, even us veteran players don’t always think of everything on the first runthough ^__^.

I think you know what I mean by ideal game but I'll explain anyway. An ideal game is when you're having a decent game with no blaring concerns. These kinds of concerns include but are not limited to:

1) Enemy champ(s) making it difficult to farm and/or out farming you
2)Specific enemy champ(s) who are giving you a notably hard time (Now of course there will be champs that will be bigger threats than others. But unless they are REALLY rocking you (which shouldn't happen often), you shouldn't need to adjust for them until later.)
3) Too many early deaths (duh)

You will learn more about how to address these kinds of issues in “Situational Items”, but for now we’re going to ignore them.
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EARLY GAME

Alright this one’s pretty easy. The first-buy Doran’s gives you increased sustain, damage and survivability with lifesteal, damage and health respectively. There’s a reason so many people start with these items, it’s because they’re solid. Next is the boots. Being able to move faster allows you to engage and evade with higher efficiency in lane. All in all you can simply micromanage more space and more effectively with a little boost. What comes next depends on how the lane is going.

If you and your partner have an advantage in lane and are spending lots of time away from your turret you need even more speed on your side to make sure you’re safe from jungle ganks. You next buy MUST be Berserker’s Greaves. After that either get a second Doran’s or go straight to your B.F. Sword. Which one depends entirely on your finances when you return. Most often it’s a second Dorans.


If your opponents have the advantage in lane and you spend most of your time closer to or under your turret your next buy should be another Doran’s Blade It will keep you safe and sustained under your turret and the extra damage will help make sure your turret doesn’t take your farm. After that it’s simply good business to upgrade your boots. They don’t always seem like much but they are always an asset.


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EARLY MOVING INTO MID GAME

This is another choice that I don’t figure is all that complicated. Because of the ratio on Expunge, the two largest priorities for Twitch are DAMAGE and ATTACK SPEED, aka: we want to get the stacks on as fast as possible and for those stacks to hit as hard as they can. I don’t think anyone is going to argue that this is a must with the current version of Twitch.
Anyhow, it's about time for expunge to do some damage. So grab your B.F. Sword ASAP. After that it’s only natural to convert it into the biggest source of bonus AD in the game. At this stage of the game you are either still in lane or just recently left it (if that’s not the case, something is wrong) so the sustain is still a large asset for you even outside of engages.

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MIDGAME

Alright and it’s midgame and you’re on a roll. What you’re looking to do right now is keep up your momentum. As an ad carry one your greatest nemesis is ARMOR. So naturally the best thing to do is get rid of it! But let’s not forget our goals here. We’re still looking for bonus AD and attack speed too. Does anything give us all three? HELL YEAH

If you’re curious as to why I chose the cleaver over the often preferred Last Whisper just click the image below. WARNING, HIGH CHART CONTENT
Keep in mind that the debuff given by your cleaver will apply to every target you hit. This means during your ult you can take away 45 armor from every member of the other team. If you have even one other AD champ on your team this ends up being a major asset.

Zeal is simply an item that carries over well for you no matter what. So which one of these two items do you grab first? Depends on how far along the game is. If your lane is still intact when you buy your Bloodthirster then you should work towards your Cleaver. If your lane is destroyed then you should grab a zeal first for the added mobility. Either way is ok really but that’s my rule of thumb.

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MID MOVING TO LATE GAME

Alright, naturally it’s time for us to upgrade our Zeal. After that things get a lot more complicated, and you have to build your following items based upon team comps and how everyone else is playing.
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So building up this far is I fairly straight forward process, but even in an ideal game late game itemization can be a tough process. Generally speaking you're going to want one more item for [primarily] DPS and one item for keeping you alive (its nice sometimes if the damage item helps with the "staying alive" thing). Deciding what these two items shall be is an entirely different story. Here the odds of getting "the ideal" is very slim and you must not stay set on trying to use just one build. You MUST build accordingly to your opponents from here on, though it wont always be easy. In order to get a better idea of what you need to build you need to take a look at your options for your damage, options for defense and what your threats are. Lets take a look at all that now. We'll start with a raw list of viable items for the two roles, and then sort them with their respective threats down below.

UNSORTED POTENTIAL DPS CHOICES (FOR CURRENTLY PRESENTED AD BUILD)


These here are an assortment of items that add to your damage output. While some are really not endgame items and some don't generally make sense, keep in mind that this is an analysis of specific situations. On top of that this is late game building. During lategame there often comes a point where the next teamfight decides the game. If you don't have the money for a major item a midgame item is sometimes worth looking at to give you all the edge you can get in the last fight. Why not Phantom Dancer? We'll get to that soon too so don't jump the gun on me.


UNSORTED POTENTIAL SURVIVABILITY CHOICES (FOR SQUISHY AD CARRY)


I know not all of this seems ideal at first but stay with me so I can explain where all of these come in. Lets examine some potential problems shall we?

KEEP IN MIND THAT NO GAME CONTAINS ONLY ONE CHALLENGE, SO YOU NEED TO CONSIDER MULTIPLE SOLUTIONS AT THE SAME TIME IN ORDER TO ACT APPROPRIATELY OVERALL. BELOW IS SIMPLY THOUGHTS ON A CASE BY CASE BASIS


PROBLEM: The Offtank(s) Wrecking You
With your damage output and your ability for easy positioning this isn't something that should be a big problem very often. Generally speaking you should be able to melt them down as they some at you, so simply adding damage is sometimes a good solution. On the other hand simply never letting them get to you is equally effective. Smart play should mean you don't have to build much to counter them specifically, but say one got really fed. What then?
PLAYSTYLE SOLUTIONS:
1) Save your stealth and melt them down as they come at you. Hit your stealth when they get close to disengage and re-position. Finish the kill.
Consider Building: Infinity Edge or Frozen Mallet or Shurelya's Battlesong
2) Murder them before they touch you
Consider Building: Infinity Edge or Youmuu's Ghostblade


PROBLEM: An AP Burster's Abilities Are Hitting Too Hard
With our ultimate it should not be difficult to avoid this situation a lot but the presence of long range abilities and flash together make it far more uncertain than our offtank issue. The good news is that with a burster all you have to do is survive their original onslaught and you're home free. Generally speaking this is something you only need one item to counter, but that's something you need to analyze on the fly each game.
PLAYSTYLE SOLUTIONS:
1) Negate/Ignore their combo and simultaneously melt them.
Consider Building: Banshee's Veil or Maw of Malmortius or Wit's End
2) Let them blow their combo and melt them afterwards.
Consider Building: Banshee's Veil or Guardian Angel


PROBLEM: You Find Yourself Dueling The Other AD A Lot
This here is a situation that happens MOST COMMONLY when most other teammates on either side are not present or dead. As such these fights are often based on who enters with more health or who can out-damage the other.
PLAYSTYLE SOLUTIONS:
DO BETTER THAN THEM. Since this is all lategame you can't just enjoy guerrilla tactics and a good farmed AD carry will be able to end you before you really escape.
Consider Building: Infinity Edge or Guardian Angel or Bloodthirster or Warden's Mail


PROBLEM: Your Team Can't Stay Alive
This is a problem you can always fix, but you can try. Usually it's because your teammates are simply at a weaker state than the other team, but sometimes its a focus and coordination thing.
PLAYSTYLE SOLUTIONS:
Placing yourself slightly closer to your teammates is a risky move against AOE teams, but against other teams it can help divert a little attention your way and with a little smart playing it can allow your team to make better use of themselves while you re-position.
Also make sure to talk with your teammates, establish focus and establish your next few moves as a team to make sure things go off without a hitch (in an ideal world anyway).
Consider Building: Aegis of the Legion or Guardian Angel


PROBLEM: Your Team Doesn't Know What A Ward Is
Quite frankly if this is the case, you're pretty screwed if the other team is the opposite. You can do a little bit, but not much. If you and/or your team hasn't been in control of the game so far odds are you guys aren't recovering with this issue weighing you down.
PLAYSTYLE SOLUTIONS:
Tell people to buy wards, and make sure NO ONE WANDERS OFF. Not having wards lategame and then wandering off is one of the ****ing stupidest ways to hand over a free win.
Consider Building: Wriggle's Lantern and Oracle's Elixir


PROBLEM: Your Team Can't Protect You
Generally speaking, the later a game gets the more important this becomes. If your team has totally forgotten that it needs to keep you safe then you have to do it for yourself. This is something you should really inform your team of, because in order to do this most effectively your itemization will not meet our high lategame damage standards and that almost defeats the point. Unfortunately if they don't listen... you have to suck it up and hope they're at least doing work if they're ignoring you.
PLAYSTYLE SOLUTIONS:
Position yourself a little more conservative so that you're not as easy to target. That way your opponents are forced to take aim at your allies and you are more likely to live longer and let the damage fly with your ult when you get the chance.
Consider Building: Guardian Angel or Ionic Spark or Frozen Mallet or Maw of Malmortius


PROBLEM: Way Too Much CC
This is another one where there isn't a lot to be done. Ideally you just want to stay out of the way, but lategame they really want to lay down the CC on you specifically, so it's a hard thing to do without just running away like an idiot.
PLAYSTYLE SOLUTIONS:
1) Dodge some and negate some
Consider Building: Banshee's Veil
2) Ride out whatever reaches you (not a real safe choice)
Consider Building: Guardian Angel


PROBLEM: You Just REALLY Want To Buy Stupid Items
Well HEY. Who am I to tell you otherwise...
PLAYSTYLE SOLUTIONS:
Sneak your way over to their base and flash over the wall. Keep running inwards until their fountain turret kills you. At least now people will think you're trolling.
Consider Building: Warmog's Armor and Trinity Force and Leviathan

A QUICK CONCLUSION TO ALL THIS

• I hope it has become clear by combining what you see here as to why I have chosen the items I have to the cheat-sheet item build at the top of this page.
• As you complete the process of building those "last two items", put a little bit of thought into your boots. You have the option of keeping them, changing them to Mercury's Treads or another Phantom Dancer. If they opposing team is like all AD I guess Ninja Tabi are ok too, but I can't say I've ever done that one.

When You're Dominating Your Lane

When you're farming well and securing multiple kills, yet the lane has not yet ended, there isn't a good reason not to build right into Infinity Edge. The Vampiric Scepter right after will help keep you in the same fashion Bloodthirster does in the standard build.

When You're Really Losing Your Lane

Unfortunately if you're zoned really hard and getting pushed on equally hard there isn't any fantastic solution. Going for the quick Vampiric Scepter

These are items which are sometimes necessary to deal with specific problems or fulfill specific roles BEFORE LATEGAME HAS ARRIVED.

I REPEAT, THESE ARE OPTIONS THAT ARE BUILT OUTSIDE OF "IDEAL MATCHUPS" AND ARE TO BE THOUGHT OF DIFFERENTLY THAN LATEGAME BUILD OPTIONS


When you're getting rocked in lane for some reason (opponents too fed to farm, laggy, new to twitch, w/e) then this is something to help you stay on your feet and push towards lategame. There you can upgrade it or sell it depending on what you need. Not a great item but not something to overlook.

And
These are something you need to think about grabbing over your Berserker's Greaves if you're in a kill lane. aka: either a Lux or a Pantheon support or something similar.


If there's someone who just has a little too much sustain that you need to nail down early game this is your item. The amount of desperation required for me to build this over something else is pretty extreme so I almost never get it because Twitch just isn't as good with a crit build anymore. Is the item BAD? No. Grab it if you need it otherwise keep your distance.


AP jungler or mobile AP assassin at midlane? Karthus? Give them all the middle finger by stopping to grab this and then continuing on your build path.


If the opposing team is remarkably bulky, I RUSH it. Other than that its a great item, but simply not one I prefer. Twitch can deal loads of damage to less bulky characters without an extra 4% on top. It's not as lousy of a choice as it used to be (in comparison to old Twitch), but it's still not great.


If your opponents are running exhausts and such this is a good choice. This is especially true if you're not using cleanse.


If the opposing AD carry is stacking early armor (and even more-so if that carry is with a Soraka) then it might be necessary to add this in to help with that before you finish anything else. Not something to do often, but something to consider sometimes.


If you're just going NUTS on the enemy team.... ok. Otherwise, don't toss your money away like this. Go for something more reliable.

I've tested hybrid Twitch a number of times. He's a monster early & mid game if played well, but he drops off so hard I just don't even think it's worth it.

This one I really dont have much to say about in terms of negative aspects. The item benefits his auto attack as well as Expunge which makes it really helpful. My only issue is that by endgame I can kill most opposing carrys in a few shots, not really enough to make the speed boost a huge deal in a lot of cases. If you would like to experiment with Hybrid Twitch, go HERE. It's one of my favorite hybrid builds.

A good item but it fits the same issue as the rageblade: really only to be used on a hybrid build.

and are great items on Twitch, but unless you plan on building Twitch as a hybrid, they leave a bit to be desired endgame. Perfectly viable items though.

and
Health and cooldown reduction simply aren't enough to warrant a spot on a Twitch.


I've been recommended to use this but frankly I dislike it. The only boost that works for you is attack damage and the splash is so small its near useless. Its a lousy and pricey item.


People like this because your Expunge has an AP ratio and by activating the active on this item you can basically guarantee that you will be able to enter stealth. Please just don't go down this road.

If you're an experienced League of Legends player, then you are already acquainted with aaaalllllll the champs in the game and how exactly their abilities can hinder you. Feel free to skip this section

If you are relatively new and don't know all about EVERY champ this is an important section for you. Crowd Control is any ability or effect that hinders your opponents ability to move, cast or attack. Any one of these effects can more often than not spell your demise when using Twitch (less so on the inability to cast). Knowing just what kind of threat enemy champs pose to you is a massive part of playing LoL in general and especially a squishy, high-damage champ (known as a carry to experienced players). Anyway, to learn all about CC, what it entails and who has it, go to the specific Leaguecraft page HERE
Doesn't get much more in depth than that.

A lot of things can make a good lane partner, and these are arranged specifically for Twitch (aka there will be a few people ranked higher than they would in general, a few lower. ALL placements and ratings are comparative and approximate). And I know as well as you guys do that any character can be a great partner if played well, but these are how I would arrange them. The arrangement is based upon how many and how strongly each champion fulfills the following characteristics. I will list each characteristic under each champion. Red is bad,Orange is poor, Yellow (dark yellow) is not bad, Green is good and Gold (light yellow) is superb.


1) Ability to keet Twitch sustained in lane via Heals/Defensive Buffs and De-Buffs/Shields
2) Ability to set up Twitch for kills via CC/Harassment /Offensive Buffs and De-buffs
3) Ability to save Twitch from death via sudden CC/Shields/Heals/Silence/trapping
4) late game and team-fight presence (having been stuck as support)*


*Keep in mind that from time to time Twitch should do some roaming and so the support will have SLIGHTLY more farm opportunities than the usual supports and that has been taken into account in this ranking.

The God Tier (For Twitch anyway)

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SustainingSetting UpPreventing DeathsLate Game
Well everyone saw this coming. So long as you're not being an idiot she's gonna keep you nice and healthy, she'll do a little bit of damage to boot. This is all nice, but once she hits 6 is the real treat. With an ult and some abilities she can both set up and prevent deaths at will. Late game particularly she's a game changer. Your ult with hers is devastating enough to put nails in your opponents coffins. The only thing that's really worth complaining about is that her ability to hold lane by herself is marginal. Good news is it's not enough to detract from her overall status.

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SustainingSetting UpPreventing DeathsLate Game
Well she's not gonna give you health constantly, and in order to prevent unsuspected damage she'd have to just spam her shield so there's a little short coming there. What she makes up for in life sustain she makes up for in cc. CC EVERYWHERE. And to top it off her CC can do some decent damage. Between you and her kills should be easy pickings in lane. Late game her CC makes teamfights great fun for you. It's no secret she's great and there's a reason.

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SustainingSetting UpPreventing DeathsLate Game
Taric is a pretty obvious choice for a number of reasons. Long story short is that everything he does is in favor of his AD carry. His debufs remove armor, he has a super convenient point-click stun, a healthy sustain for you and himself and his buff gives you AD!! There is nothing to dislike about this man and he's not even bad at holding the lane. Call him what you like but he's a hunk if you're playing as an allied AD.

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SustainingSetting UpPreventing DeathsLate Game
This is another one everyone saw coming. Her burst heal is unrivaled. With it she's gonna keep you alive and sustained even under extreme conditions. Alternatively if you decide you want/need to roam (which is rare with the current Twitch) she can start leveling Starcall and hold a lane herself pretty well. Pretty standard support, and everyone knows it. You don't become one of the most used supports without doing your job well.

The Powerhouse Tier

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SustainingSetting UpPreventing DeathsLate Game
His consistent heals and double CC make him a great ally. His constant heal is going to keep you sustained and his cc has a number of uses. Because his headbutt pushes opponents away it is more useful for preventing your death than assuring your kills, but it's never something to be overlooked. The unstoppable cow is a great disturbance to your opponents late game too so he's nice to have around.

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SustainingSetting UpPreventing DeathsLate Game
While he isnt much for keeping you sustained, he's one of the biggest terrors in lane and everyone knows it. One grab and knock up and everything's over for some unlucky fellow unless a lot of summoner spells get blown. He's slightly weaker at protecting you from death because it requires a quickly placed skillshot under pressure and he may not be in a position to do it if he was "hunting" for a shot on someone. Late game a good grab creates easy 4v5 games. Not the king of supports but a godsent to have around regardless.

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SustainingSetting UpPreventing DeathsLate Game
Yet again weak on the sustain department, but her constant stun mode really gives her the same feel as blitz. If someone get's caught and you're in possition, they better blow all their spells or they're dead. Not great at holding lane but not the worst. Late game stuns make it easy to keep the carries down. Another beautiful late game friend.

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SustainingSetting UpPreventing DeathsLate Game
"WHAT BUT SHEN GOES TOP!!" Well yeah he should be, but he has the capability to support if need be. He has some minor sustain for you, harasses pretty well, and does a FANTASTIC job at
punishing your opponents for being out of position. Late game he's a beast and with his ult he can be anywhere. He's an absurdly strong champ right now so naturally it is great to have him on your side.

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SustainingSetting UpPreventing DeathsLate Game
Considering moving this one. Nautilus to me is a little like the inverse tank of Alistar. He has good CC, but while Alistar is good at saving lives more so than nailing kills Nautilus is better at the reverse. That said it's not like he can't do both. The only thing this monster is lacking is sustain for you. In order to be an efficient lane holder he has to get in range of the enemy AD, which can only last so long. Late game his targeted initiate can give your team just the time it needs so he definitely deserves this spot at least.

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SustainingSetting UpPreventing DeathsLate Game
She would easily a god tier for Twitch if she had a sustain for him. She has massive slows and puts out some pretty disgusting early damage. Flashes will be burned early with her charging out of the bushes. You haven't known an annoying lane until you've been camped by a talented Sejuani.

The Average Tier

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SustainingSetting UpPreventing DeathsLate Game
It's no mystery that kayle can be a terror late game. The thing is though, that she needs farm in order to do that. The problem with her supporting is not that she can not do it well, she does at least a marginally decent job in most categories with the kit she has, but late game she suffers for it. She gets to farm slightly more than if she were supporting someone else but generally not enough to make up for being a support overall. That's about all there is to say here.

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SustainingSetting UpPreventing DeathsLate Game
Considering moving her. She really shines when your opponents are pushed to turret and she can just wail on them with her spears. Twitch shouldn't spend all his time pushed towards your opponents turret all the time and that certainly wont be the case if you go to gank. Long story short she doesn't shine quite like she does with some of AD carries, but her heals and traps do a good job of keeping you out of a bad position. Late game she's good for poke comps mostly. I like her as a support but for Twitch she's purely average.

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Lulu I haven't formed a strong opinion on yet. Haven't played enough games with her. Despite her lack of sustain her kit does a good job at saving people from ganks and with glitterlance it seems like she could do pretty good holding lane. Until I have a stronger opinion on her she remains here at the average tier.

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For a normal support he might be even a little less deserving than this, but this is a TWITCH GUIDE! Zilean is pretty good for Twitch. A good Zilean (whom I have the fortune of playing with often actually) is a master of planting bombs. He can either drop them consistently on your opponents, or he can put them on you. When Zilean bombs Twitch in stealth, the bomb is stealth as well. You have to be careful delivering it, but until they've popped down their pink ward it makes for easy set ups for kills in lane. His monstrous slows save lives and secure kills all game and turns late game fights into 6v5. <3 Zil

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This one makes me a little uncomfortable sometimes. He's got the slow harass for both making kills and avoiding death, but that's about all. His attack speed debuff is strong but it requires him getting into the fray to do. If his ult isn't up that can be suicide during a gank. The only reason he isnt lower down is because of his late game utility.

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Orianna is another one I haven't experienced enough of so I can't say a ton about her. With her ball she's capable of some good damage, an efficient and easy to place slow and a point-click shield. Her ult is great both early and late for basically every reason. Until I play more with her she will remain here in the average tier.

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The only two reasons Lux is average in my eyes in stead of a little higher is that she is so skill shot oriented and has no sustain for herself or Twitch. Her shield is good but hard to nail in a fast paced gank situation. Her snare and slow are under the same conditions but are also effective at setting up for those in lane kills. A GOOD support lux is going to be your best friend. Anything less and you may regret it.

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If you're going for an aggressive kill lane this and Lux are your best bets. As far as fulfilling the roles outlined above he's average in every way. A lousy "support" in the traditional sense, but he has his niche.

The "Meh" Tier

-arcane smash
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With the old roaming version of Twitch this was one of my very favorite supports because he could hold lane forever and let me roam while still providing good support abilities. Now that we stay in lane so much more, having someone who's only harass also pushes the lane is actually a pain in the rear and he doesn't have any sustain. His CC and lategame utility is really all he has going for him in the end.

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Morgana as a support actually suffers from similar symptoms as Karma but not as bad. She can keep you save from ganks (sorta) so long as she levels up her bind and shield. She's a monster late game with her ult. The problem with all this is that in order for any one of best features to be truly impact-full she needs to commit to it entirely. Long story short you just don't want her supporting.

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Galio is yet another character capable of the support function that I don't have a lot of experience with. What i do know is that his harass is decent (if not a little hard to land) and he can hold a lane well. Late game his ult causes lots of trouble for your opponents so he's a cool guy to have around. He is indeed better as a mid counterpic but like Shen he can be played here in certain situations.

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Ok so besides his ult he has a slow and an attack speed buff. If you're nunu is really aggressive this can turn out in your favor, but blowing his abilities like that leaves you vulnerable. He has no ability to sustain you and lets be honest, before those summoner heal buffs he wasn't seen that often as a support (or at all for that matter).

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Karma can do a lot of things and do them well but her limited Mantra is the only thing that allows her to do any of it WELL. She is however a fun champion and if you are duo she CAN be an effective lane partner, but that doesn't change that she's dropping away to nothing later on.

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What does Amumu bring to the table? A brief skillshot stun. That's it. And in order for him to be tanking damage later he needs farm. This is really just a lousy idea. If his ult wasn't so danged useful late game he'd be a facepalm tier lane-partner easily.

The Facepalm Tier

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Ok at first I was gonna go into his aspects of support (because he isn't terribad compared some other champs people call "support), but in this case it doesnt even matter. If he's in game with Twitch its a guarantee that every single person is going to have an oracle by the time he hits 6. Don't do it guys.

- puncturing taunt
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Rammus has no ranged abilities, so he cant harass or hold a lane at all. He has no sustain for himself or you. He does a great job of distracting gankers (though he'll probably die), but that's about all. He wont get farm, wont be of much help to you unless you're opponents are really oblivious, and wont be able to tank late game. Another no-no support in my book.

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Singed is super item dependent for his game. Sure you can leave and let him farm but in an AD lane he has to be in range of their attacks to efficiently farm. He'll get whittled down in a couple waves and then what? Conceptually it's not an awful idea but in practice it's very marginal. Lacking sustain and just doesn't impact the game enough later on.

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I don't know who thought of making Yorick a support but I'm not totally sure what they were thinking. He has a slow, and he can harass alright. That's it. Good luck with this one. I'll pass.

-sigil of silence
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Another one I've seen that made me shake my head in confusion. She has a single skillshot slow/stun and a silence. She can harass well like Yorkick, but without farm she has even less utility than him late game.

This is exciting. Due to the changes in season two masteries and the jungle rework, jungle Twitch is now more viable and remarkably effective. Lane Twitch is my first love so I don't think I'll be switching over anytime soon. There are also better junglers. On the chance no one plans on playing one of said junglers though, Twitch has become a highly effective replacement and if you want a SOLID Jungle build for Twitch after you're done here, head right to here.

NOTE: When the rework dropped, jungle Twitch got a heck of a lot LESS viable.

Lots of text incoming. You were warned. This stuff is important though.

*As a heads up, because Twitch got changed so much there are plenty of things still to be learned in the areas of how to use him. I will put in all I know in order to re-release and continue adding as time goes on*

All headings in orange are things that I've known as a Twitch player for some time that even overly aggressive and/or new players can probably see for themselves

All headings in green are things that I've learned to pay more attention to as I evaluated my game. They often maximize survivability and contribution to your team.

If you pay too much attention to the orange headings and not enough to the ones in green you'll get lousy results.

First reaching the lane: This is an area where Twitch really shines. Because of his stealth he actually has the opportunity to face check the bushes without your ally risking his life (if you are blue side. If you are purple you should be guarding Blue Buff). Due to the short duration of the stealth you have to approach carefully and make the check quickly before peeling out. I generally hang out here before making the move and move towards the tip of the bush half a second after hitting stealth. DO NOT DO THIS AGAINST Blitzcrank PLEASE. With your opponents revealed this also gives your ally an opportunity to use any ranged harass without fail while you back up. If there is no one in the bushes you and your ally can press forward to the bushes yourself.

The First Encounter: Twitch has some great potential here. When your opponent waits for minions to enter lane, they generally enter lane on the opposite side of the minions to avoid confronting bushes. With Twitch you can join them on their side using stealth. If you and your ally launch a two pronged attack here it is often very lethal. DO NOT LAUNCH THE ATTACK IF YOUR ALLY IS NOT PREPARED OR UNSURE. That moment of hesitation by an ally can lead to the lack of the kill and a dead rat. If you are NOT going to try that first blood gank though (which is more common), you can actually use that moment of hesitation. Being on the other side of the minions, your opponent(s) often don't expect an attack without warning. Even if they know you are on the team they don't know if you are in lane or not. This is a good time to get off just a shot or two and back off. With Twitch's early damage and DoT this is actually a pretty big deal. It will likely set off a health pot right there. It is YOUR decision on whether to engage or not. If the opponents are running exhaust or have early crowd control, you probably don't want to pop out until those are on cooldown. NEVER EVER EVER GET GREEDY EARLY GAME.

Watch Out For: your ambush time! Nothing is worse than lurking around in an area you shouldn't be only to have your stealth wear off. If that happens, odds are pretty good you are dead or taking some heavy damage.
Avoiding All The Ganks: First and foremost make sure you're warded so that you have lots of forewarning. That way you don't have to worry about most of this. Anyway, the key to getting away clean is to make sure they NEVER get their hands on you. Generally speaking you can do this one of two ways. You can either make a run back for your turret or juke right through your opponents using stealth. Doing some of these moves are the most rewarding parts of playing Twitch. Using the bushes for cover enter stealth and appear as though you are headed away until last second. Turn around and either head towards the river or their jungle (generally your river). If they don't have oracles and don't have skillshots to nail you with then just head back to your turret. If they have skillshots, oracles or have the power to dive you then you want to bail out and create as much distance between you and them as possible before your stealth timer runs out. I do this stuff often and it makes me smile every time.

Last Hitting Minions: Do it. Self explanatory.

Harass: Harass can always be risk but it has high reward as well. If your opponents have skill shots only approach them using your minions as meat shields (regardless of whether you're in stealth or not). If your opponents have crowd control or aoe abilities, wait until they are on cooldown to launch a shot or two and toss Venom Cask. Whether you want to hit expunge or not is up to you. If you're playing aggressive you will want to cast it just to keep up with the damage. Overall the decision is an analysis of whether the damage done is worth the cost of the mana. A lot of the time it is but it depends on the situation and the lane.

Keeping Up The Ticks Maintaining stacks on your opponent is a great way to keep up damage and drive your opponent mad with the constant pain. After receiving a couple stacks people are often quick to come back towards lane. If you have the opportunity pop them again when they try to last hit or hit them with Venom Cask. This increase in damage being dealt by your stacks combined with the refresh of the 6 seconds leads to quite the dent in your opponents health, even early on. If you manage to refresh these stacks more than once your opponent will be finding themselves taking faaaaar more damage than they thought.

Once you Hit Level Two: Take Expunge. This ability is so wonderful <3. If you and your ally have been harassing a little bit you should be able to secure an easy kill now. If your opponent is at half health or less you can pop Ignite, fire a few shots and pop Expunge for the kill. DONT DO THIS IF YOUR ALLY IS NOT AROUND AND BOTH OPPOSING LANERS ARE. Remeber, YOU ARE SQUISHY. Your target could simply flash away while the other pops you with some CC and proceeds to beat on you. If you've been playing carefully thus far, such an event probably wont kill you, but it will be a waste of a summoner ability and you'll have to pop a health pot early.

When to Hit Expunge : If you are really going for the kill here, hit six stacks and cast ASAP. On a similar note if you think you're going to die, make sure you cast it before you die so that you don't waste that potential damage.

When There Are MIA'S or a Jungler: Check bushes often to avoid a gank. Using stealth for safety is a good idea if it's convenient.

The Mental Factor: Now any Twitch player knows that stealthing can give your opponents some serious paranoia issues, but what effect can it have on an ally? Never overlook this. If you are standing too close to an opponent, your ally may take it as a hint that you want to engage. If they go in early, assuming you want them to initiate, this can lead to a dead team mate, a dead rat, or both. If you and your lane partner are not fully communicating, simply be aware of your effect on your ally's thinking.

Mana : Twitch sometimes has trouble with mana early on so don't feel like you have to spend all your time stealthed. Also, NEVER use expunge to farm this early unless you are REALLY behind on gold (in which case you need to practice last hitting anyway) or your opponents have an abnormally large wave coming towards your tower.

Keep Hugging: Yeah I know it sucks, but you're squishy remember?

Withhold Harass: I don't recommend harassing often if your opponents are outside of turret range in this particular situation. Remember if you can harass them they may be able to harass you. If you're in a lane solo and you have to go b, you probably just lost a tower and/or you're losing a lot of potential farm to tower. Just play it careful in this situation and request that help comes when it's available.

Summoner Spells: Pay close attention to what your opponent had coming into the game. Sooner or later you will have a confrontation with your mid lane opponent, and if they are running Exhaust or Heal you need to approach this situation with great caution. You have to do this in every lane but its more critical in a solo lane since you don't have a support.

Before Minions Arrive: You should be in the jungle either leashing for your jungler or guarding buffs. If you don't have a jungler for some reason then make sure you're hanging back a little behind your turret. If other members of your team haven't been spotted in lane yet it maintains a little bit of mystery as to who is laning where. To top it off you can enter lane in stealth for an early shot or two since your opponent doesn't know your location.

Notably Squishy opponents: Whether to outright engage this type of opponent is entirely your digression. If you think you can kill them and escape, fine. DONT BITE OFF MORE THAT YOU CAN CHEW

If they are afraid of you: Then they are probably sticking close to turret. DO NOT ENGAGE. Use your stealth to freak them out and keep them away from minions and experience. It will lead to them being underfed and a much easier time for the whole team. Pop out and farm when they are far enough away. Against a lot of AP casters their abilities will allow them to farm anyway so just use your judgement really.

The Side Lanes: This is a touchy subject, because it varies from game to game. If your opponent mid is afraid of you then you have more opportunity to gank without them pushing very hard, but you also have to watch for ganks more closely. If your opponent is aggressive then you may want to reconsider going to gank. A kill in bot lane is not worth losing mid tower. This is why I don't prefer using Twitch mid, but it happens and it usually turns out fairly well.

Wards: Yes you have stealth, but its not always opportune or timely to go check the bushes. I'm not saying grab wards whenever you go mid, but make sure not to overlook them. Pay VERY close attention to enemy wards.

At this point you've probably pulled a few ganks and there have probably been a few skirmishes between groups of teammates. What EXACTLY you should be doing here varies on where you started off, how fed you are and how both teams are behaving. Because this time period is so versatile, I should outline a few general notes here.

Mid Game is the time to show your team they can depend on you. Play smart and be helpful. Need help doing that? Go HERE. That guide is a great outline of how you need to be conducting yourself to be a better asset to your team (which is why I wrote this guide in the first place).

KSing is a terrible thing. Its fairly common sense but I have to add it because Twitch is a PRO KSer. By simply hitting Expunge he has the ability to steal any kill he was even mildly involved with. Yeah I know a fed rat is a happy rat but its not an excuse for being an ***. If you've dealt decent chunk of the damage feel free to finish the job, if not, don't be a ****. Having said this I have three situations where I allow myself to intentionally ks. The first is if the opponent in question looks as though they might escape. Yeah ok, your ally might say "dude I totally had that", but their glory is not worth the chance of letting that enemy go when your ally is hardly in range and the enemy is near a turret to hide by. USE YOUR COMMON SENSE HERE. Know your champs and if you think your ally had it, don't take it. The second situation has never actually happened to me, but I wouldn't feel bad if it did (lol). If your ally is EXTREMELY fed and you're underfed, go ahead. An underfed rat is generally a useless teammate. Thirdly, you need that gold more than a tank, so take that **** unless they are having a rough game.

Twitch is a great pusher. His abilities make it so that if a turret is left undefended, Twitch has the capability to knock it down all the way from full health and even get away afterwards. By distributing your auto attacks over the enemy minion wave and hitting Expunge you can annihilate it quickly with minimal damage to your own wave. Once at turret you have a decision to make. If there are some MIA's, you think they're coming for you (which they often are) and the turret has a fair amount of health its often a good idea to pop your ult and wipe out the entire incoming enemy wave with a couple shots. Your next wave will be arriving now so depending on how quickly you got your minions to the turret you have anywhere from a full wave to a wave and a half with you attacking turret. At this point keep your eyes peeled for your opponents. Be ready to pop both Venom Cask and Ambush. Until the opponent arrives though, keep rocking that turret. It falls FAST. IF you reach the turret and it doesn't have a whole lot of health, don't even think of using your ult. It has better uses elsewhere if it can be helped.

Watch out for Oracles. There are a few things to note in terms of playing against oracles. First and foremost, THEY SHOULD BE ON YOUR HIT LIST. I can't emphasize that enough. By taking them down you force them to buy another and waste gold. Not having them around also allows you to play to your full ability and helpfulness. If there is an enemy champ with oracle who has been MIA for even a short while, YOU SHOULD NOT BE WONDERING AROUND THEIR SIDE AND DEFINITELY NOT AT A TURRET SOLO. Stick with your team mates for a while in this situation.

Consider buying an oracle yourself. It sounds crazy if you're new to Twitch and such, but if your opponents have been placing lots of wards or if there are champs with stealth on the opposing team, this is a massive asset for you. Don't overlook it.
Remember to keep farming! If you don't keep farming from time to time and only work on ganking you may find yourself with a lack of gold later on.

You can be more confident with allies around. While it can be risky in solo situations or very early game, Twitch definitely has some great harass potential with Expunge. At this point in the game you should really have allies around so opponents will be much more hesitant to attack after you pop out of stealth for a moment. Just remember to not push your luck ok?

Trouble here was what actually made me take a hard look at how I use The Plague Rat. Twitch has the ability to do intense damage, but if you get cocky you AND your team are doomed. This means you have to pay strict attention to your positioning, timing and target at all times. Outside of this though you need to be paying attention to a few other things as well.

First make sure you are sticking with your team. Late-game, you really don't want to get assassinated out of the blue. Its a great way to toss the game. On the other side of that coin you should be looking to see if an opponent is doing the same. If you know the whereabouts of four teammates but spot one opponent all by them self, then now is the time to analyze whether you can go take him down. There's nothing quite so fun as assassinating an opponent and going into a late-game fight 5v4.

Next is Baron Nashor YOU NEED EYES ON BARON NASHOR, WARDS ARE BEST BUT IF EVERYONE IS TOO DUMB TO GET ONE CHECK WITH YOUR CASK OFTEN. If you do go to take baron I suggest staying in the back of his pit if you are purple team and outside his pit if you are blue team. Basically you just want the location where you have time to stealth if the other team shows up. Also remember that your ult can hit Baron (and the opposing team) through the wall.

Make sure to keep an eye on all the lanes. Depending on how the match is progressing it can be a highly beneficial move to go and backdoor a turret while the teams poke each other or w/e it is their goofing around doing. Depending on what kind of map control your team has this can major blow to an opposing team or a suicide mission. Experience will teach you how to recognize which is which. Until then don't get cocky ok?

Rule #1, between you and the opposing stealth player, don't be the second one to buy an oracle. If they get an oracle first then they already have a potential positioning advantage over you. Don't just get a pink ward either. If they buy an oracle you just wasted that gold and got absolutely nothing from it.
Shaco can be a pain because he's hella hard to kill unless you grab an oracle. Start attacking him and he just goes poof. If you're lucky you'll be able to get enough shots off to finish the job with Expunge. Never chase him too far though. If you end up getting caught by one of his boxes he has time to counterattack and you're likely dead. If he's fed I recommend not trying to go solo him period unless he's squishy and already near death.
I like going against a Teemo. He's pretty squishy and he has to stand still to gain stealth. Therefore if you have an oracle he's got nothing on you besides a short blind.
This one's tricky because she can be built so many different ways. A squishy eve does lots of damage and is not something you want to get ganked by. Ward carefully and don't let her get her hands on you. A tanky eve doesn't deal quite so much damage and if you play your cards right you may even be able to counterattack, but that's a pretty rare situation. Overall you just have to play by ear against eve and think about how you would play against a jungler similar to how that specific eve is playing.
This is some scary ****. Assuming that the two of you are within a couple levels and are both building offensively, either one of you has the capability to kill the other, which makes engaging really scary. If the enemy Twitch has any brains at all he'll try to grab the first oracle. If not then you'll have the upper hand all game. If he does, then it becomes an extremely tense situation for you. Actually making the kill in a 1v1 situation depends almost entirely on who gets the drop on the other and who stacks enough poison to finish with Expunge first. It's funny, but very tense. Never underestimate your evil twin, even if you are a skilled Twitch player and have more farm. I recommend rolling with allies if there's an opposing Twitch with oracle running about.

I cant believe I'm writing this for you guys, but here it is. Be warned there is a ton more info in this guide, but out of all the things people learning Twitch need to know, I think this next one is the most important.


YOU ARE MORE SQUISHY THAN YOU THINK AND YOUR STEALTH WONT ALWAYS SAVE YOU SO DONT JUST PAY ATTENTION TO HOW MUCH DAMAGE YOU CAN DO. IF YOU PLAY JUST A LITTLE MORE CONSERVATIVELY THAN YOU NORMALLY WOULD YOU WILL BE TEN TIMES MORE HELPFUL TO YOUR TEAM

I give my thanks to everyone who read this guide (even if it was just the TLDR version). I know it's a lot but I put in basically everything that corresponds to my play style in here, so I really hope that you got at least something of use out of it, even if it was just the general information on how to be a helpful team mate.

Now I give thanks to other Mobafire members who did work that I reference in the guide.

Second is shadows fiji. His guide called "The Bible of LoL" (originally written by Condon) is a glorious and true guide on how to be an effective teammate and player. I'm sure anyone who read my guide either gained a lot after I linked them there or had already seen it.

Next is Phoenix0000ff. His jungle guide is top notch and I'm more than happy to send other people there and support not only him but also the fact that Twitch can now jungle.

Another thanks is to is IronBridge. He spent his time to create a great hybrid build that I linked readers to if they wanted to try something different.

DuskToGlory gets the credit for the simple and eloquent image pitting the cleaver and whisper against eachother. Thanks again!

Last but not least is JhoiJhoi. This whole guide was written and coded by myself, except for my section on the abilities. I think Jhoi's format is really just superior to anything else so I decided to use that instead of do my own.

Thanks again to EVERYONE! I'll update as patches are released or an issue is brought up in comments.

8/6/12 - Guide republished after a complete retooling to bring everything up to speed after his full rework.

Update history pre-rework for anyone who cares