Renekton Build Guide by HundalG

Introduction

Hi, I'm currently a 1570 elo player and I thought I'd share my build for my favourite champion with you guys. Renekton is one of my favourite champions simply because of his sustain and ability to dominate the lane. Renekton is arguably one of the best solo tops and is a very viable counter to passive solo tops. This is my 1st guide, so please pardon any mistakes and offer any constructive criticism you have. I hope that you review the full guide, in order to understand my reasoning behind each itemization and my prefferred way of playing Renekton.

Updates

16/03/2012 - Added a new build for a tanky dps/anti-carry Renekton

Pros / Cons

Pros

+ Lots of Fun
+ Amazing Gap Closer
+ Powerful Laner
+ Good Farmer
+ Ridiculous damage
+ Great Early Game
+ Laughs whenever he uses empowered Ruthless Predator
+ Excellent Anti-Carry Skills and Disruption
+ HE'S A ******* CROCODILE
+ He Has His Own Theme Song:

Cons

- Falls Off Late Game
- Susceptible to CC
- Weak When Silenced
- Squishy Early Game
- Cooldown Dependant

Runes

I take Armor penetration quints and Armor penetration marks to capitalize on Renekton's powerful early game and to decimate squishies late game. As well as Flat armor seals with Flat magic resist glyphs to compensate for his squishiness early game.

Masteries

I go 21/9/0 because these runes allow me to harass incredibly well, while giving me greater ability to stay in lane. I avoid the CDR mastery, because I find it to be irrelevant late game and doesn't bring alot of value for 4 points. I take the bonus Armor over the Magic Resistance because most solo tops are AD.
Taking the improved exhaust/ignite lets you reduce their armor another 10 and gives you a decent 5 extra AD while ignite is on cooldown.

Items

I play Renekton as a very tanky anticarry and disabler. During team fights, I dive after their carries, as opposed to defending mine. Renekton isn't a great tank, and shouldn't be attempted to be played as one. I take Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potion to start because it gives Renekton much needed mobility and if you lose an exchange, the potions help you to bounce back. Rush an early The Brutalizer. I take the The Brutalizer and Wriggle's Lantern before the boots, because it much needed AD, CDR, Armor penetration, as well as armor. After you've gotten your Ionian Boots of Lucidity, you should be poking your unfortunate opponent like its nobody's business. After getting the Phage, I prefer picking up some cheap resistances. You shouldn't be in a hurry to upgrade your phage into a Frozen Mallet because you shoudldn't have a problem applying its slow with an empowered Ruthless Predator and autoattacks. Randuin's Omen gives even better chasing ability, and Force of Nature gives much needed Magic resistance and movement speed to make it easier to close the gap between you and their carries. You can prioritize either, depending on what your enemy's team composition is. Trade in your The Brutalizer for a Last Whisper and your Wriggle's Lantern for an Atma's Impaler.

The second build is geared towards a viable anti-carry build and offering massive amounts of damage and survivabilty. It makes you very bulky with a modest amount of armor and magic resistance and gives you substancial damage because of the 48% crit chance you get from Atma's Impaler and Trinity Force, Youmuu's Ghostblade, letting you easily cut through squishies, as well as 51 armor pen to amplify your damage against them. It also gives you amazing mobility with the movement speed bonus from Force of Nature and Trinity Force and Youmuu's Ghostblade's active.

Situational DPS Items

Black cleaver is a great dps item, though I prefer not to take it because it adds little to survivability.
Wit's end is a great counter to an Magic damage heavy team, though it doesn't synchronize very well with Renekton's playstyle.
The trinity force adds substantial burst to Renekton's combo, but I only suggest it, if you can make up tankiness in other parts of the build.
The bloodthirster adds raw damage to Renekton. However, the lifesteal is somewhat wasted as renekton is an AD caster, not auto attacker. It is also a risky item because you can lose 40% of the item's effectiveness if you die.
Madred's Bloodrazor is a viable counter to an enemy team stacking hp. Though it doesn't fit into Renekton's playstyle, it can be used effectively to add substantial damage.

Situational Tanky Items

Warmog's Armor should only be taken if you can't get massive amounts of HP elsewhere in your build.
Sunfire Cape is a viable addition to a renekton build, adding more AOE dps to your ultimate.
Guardian angel can be necessary in those games, where losing a single teammate could spell disaster.
Thornmail is only viable against a team loaded with auto attackers, not really necessary because randuin's passive cuts down on ALOT of damage taken, and debuffs those stupid enough to attack you.
Ninja Tabi should only be taken against a largely AD based team.
Mercury's Treads can be a viable alternative if the enemy team has a lot of Hard crowd control.
Spirit Visage helps with early game squishiness, but needs to be substituted late game, I skip it all together.
Hexdrinker can be crucial to beating an AP team with alot of burst, it gives you survivability and damage.
Aegis of the Legion can be a good item to take, though your support should have taken it.

Skills

This is a great passive, giving you incredible damage when over 50%. Renekton's passive also makes him deceptively strong, especially when combined with the heal from his ultimate, exhaust and ignite. Renekton's passive is the most difficult thing to master and understand about Renekton, but it seperates the good Renekton players from the great Renekton players.

This is the ability most important to Renekton. It has great bases, AOE damage and as a bonus, it heals you for a percent of the damage dealt. It also gives you fury per target hit. The empowered version of Cull the Meek deals significantly larger damage, as well as increasing the amount you heal by. Remember that the range on Cull the Meek size is larger after you use , use this to your advantage to get that last hit before your opponent gets away. Prioritize this ability to be used with fury.

This lets you poke your opponent and is a high damage single target nuke. The empowered version causes the stun to be longer, as well as Renekton to attack the target 3 times instead of 2. ( The Black Cleaver stacks can be applied instantly)

This skill is what makes Renekton so difficult to lane against, it allows Renekton to slice into range for a and (excuse the use of this icon, it is the closest looking to dice) away to safety, before your opponent can retaliate. Its a two-part ability, with only the second part requiring fury. By dashing into the enemy champion or the wave, you can reuse the dash. If empowered, it shreds the armor of all targets hit.

Renekton's ultimate ability empowers him, increasing his maximum health, generating fury and dealing AOE damage around him. This skill makes Renekton deceptively powerful. If you're being chased, try evading into a bush and using your ultimate. You'll have a serious chunk of health restored and the fury will make you hit much harder than your opponent expected.

Harassing

Renekton's power comes specifically from being able to harass your opponent while healing yourself. The basic combo to harass with Renekton is:

To go in for the kill:

To escape a gank:
(if needed)

No icon exists for dice, therefore I have used the icon for Caitlyn's Ace in the Hole due to its similarity in appearance.

Summoner Spells

I take exhaust and ignite for the simple reason, that I prefer to lane as Renekton with less than 1/2 hp, making full use of his passive. I have been told that playing him in this way is risky and that it isn't viable. However, if you're able to play him this way, you'll become deceptively strong during the laning phase by using exhaust to nerf their damage and ignite to nerf their healing.

Farming

Farming with Renekton is easy because of his high damage AOE Q. Approach a wave of minions, hit them while they're at full hp. Once they're roughly to 1/2 hp, enter the wave use slice and dice, followed up by empowered cull the meek and follow up by using slice and dice to get out of the wave.

Summary

In summary, Renekton is a great Champion that I personally believe that everyone should try atleast once. He has amazing harass, sustain and is a general bully all game. Late game he shines as a damage soak and a disabler, getting between the enemy carries and reducing their ability to affect the teamfight. I would like to thank Jhoijhoi for helping me through her great starter guide for builds and thank you in advance to those who look through the entire guide, then vote and offer feedback. I hope you guys have as much fun playing Renekton as I do. :)