Trundle Build Guide by Piratepimp8

Trundle, all around

Sup folks, my name is PiratePimp and this is my second build on Mobafire, my first one was Tryndamere build which you can check out under my profile.

So what do I have stored for you today? I've got a fairly expensive champion on the line, champion that is not very popular lately. For 4800 I give you, Trundle the Cursed Troll.

If you are going to downvote my guide at least leave some kind of comment why, even if it's you suck or something like that. I will answer all the questions you have and keep upgrading my guide.

So who and what is Trundle?

Trundle, released back in 2010 got a lot of nerfs since, as can be imagined. He was the first champion who's cost was 4800 IP's.

Trundle in game is very important as both the damage dealer and damage taker. He can be many things, from Tank, Damage, Jungle Damage, Off-Tank.

I will show you all those "paths" in this guide, along with the basic and indepth information about the given Champion.

"Time to Troll".

Trundle The Cursed Troll Background

Trolls have never been well-regarded beings on Valoran. Generally speaking, they are barbaric, cannibalistic, and sneaky. They are creatures relegated to the murky recesses of the world, hidden away from most intelligent beings. Despite their maleficent natures, however, the Ruhgosk never deserved the grisly fate that was visited upon them. Generations ago, a twisted necromancer known as Hakolin the Bonecrafter attempted to enslave the Ruhgosk tribe. These trolls are considerably more gentle than their ill-mannered brethren, although still uncouth by human standards. The Ruhgosk fought tooth and claw against the necromancer, ultimately driving him from their land. As a parting gift, Hakolin afflicted the trolls with a leprous disease, forever cursing the members of the tribe. The leprosy would have rotted their flesh away to nothing were it not for the trolls' natural ability to regenerate. Caught forever in a hideous rotting state, the Ruhgosk endured their curse while desperately in search of a cure. They never found one.
A wise Ruhgosk shaman learned that he could magically bind the disease to a single troll, provided that the troll could bear the weight of the entire tribe's curse upon himself. However, there was no such troll...until the birth of Trundle. His ability to regenerate is so profound that it appeared as if he did not carry the disease. As Trundle grew, he came to understand his gift and what it could do for his people. When he came of age, he took the curse from his tribe in a baptism of searing agony. Through the shaman's ritual, Trundle became a horrifying creature whose flesh constantly sloughs off his body, only to be re-grown in an unremitting cycle. He has joined the League of Legends in hopes of eventually finding someone who could dispel the heinous curse completely.

"I've learned a thing or two about pain! Let me show you!"

Pros and Cons

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well not in this game. The part of the guide where I will show you all the good, but also the bad sides of Trundle. Brace yourself.

Pros:

- High base Health grating him massive sustainability.

- Ability to completely shut down enemy AD carry's.

- Massive slow which can also be used to cut off some passages, and scout into bushes.

- Stealing enemy's stats actually give them to you.

- High CC reduction if Contaminate is combined with Tenacity items.

Cons

- Pretty slow Jungle progression, but pretty high Ganking and Counter Jungleing ability.

- Hard to build.

- Requires smart play mixed with patience, which some people don't have.

- How good your Ultimate is, it's also quite bad since it's bit useless on people, except Tanks.

- Jack of two Trades (Damage and Tank) master of none.

Skill Explanation

Here I will explain the skills that Trundle posses, along with the information regarding them.

Decompose Alright, so Trundle's passive, as it's called Decompose, gives him ability to heal when enemy units die near him. The heal is in % and it is increased at some levels. This works pretty well when jungling, or when left alone to feed a lane with half HP.


Rabid Bite Rabbit bite. No wait, Rabid Bite is Trundle's first spell. Activating this spell you bite your enemy, Decreasing their Attack Damage, damage them, and Increasing your own Attack Damage, over 8 seconds. Cooldown for this spell is 4 seconds at beginning so you can reuse it without your buff expiring. THEY DON'T STACK, otherwise Trundle would be biting creeps and getting unlimited amount of Damage.


Contaminate is Trundle's seconds ability. It gives him Bonus Attack Speed, Move Speed and reduced Crowd Effects( stuns, slows). It's the ability with the biggest AoE in League of Legends so far (1000, the same as your passive). Useful when rushing towers, to give you Attack Speed needed to take it down. Useful for running away, along with engaging opponents. Mixed with some Tenacity items, it really cut's down enemy's CC.


Pillar of Filth Trundle's most favored, and hated spell if you ask me. This ability has massive slow, which is also AoE, and blocks the path. It can also be used to scout Bushes or close down an enemy escape path. Since it's not big enough to completely shut down an entrance, it can and will make enemies walk around it to get to desirable destination. Giving you and your allies to get away, or get into the fight.


Agony is Trundle's Ultimate ability, it gives him ability to steal enemies Health, Armor and Magic resist, while increasing it's own. After initial steal, over next 6 seconds he steals the same amount. Perfect for shutting down enemy Tanks....and well that's all. Oh also for some jungle creeps.

Tips and Tricks

Decompose allows Trundle to jungle effectively as well as keep a sustained presence in lane. Decompose has a range of 1000 and allows Trundle to heal from enemy minion waves as they die even if you can't last-hit them.

Rabid Bite resets the attack timer. Remember that it also has a slight range and can be used to lunge towards an enemy.
Rabid Bite is good for lowering the physical damage of enemies; try to focus it on enemy physical damage dealers. It can also be used to pop the opposing tank's Banshee's Veil before using your Agony.

Contaminategives you move speed so you can drop it out in front to help chase fleeing enemies or speed your escape.
Spamming Contaminate will allow you to reach your destination much faster.

Pillar of Filth has a large sight radius and is very effective to check the brush and slow any potential sneaky gankers.
A good tactic to keep people on Contaminate is to plant a Pillar of Filth on the escaping champion which will then push them backwards if placed correctly, allowing Trundle to get in range to attack.
Contaminate should always be used when attacking a tower for the attack speed increase.

Agony is to soften a powerful enemy tank or to create a target for your team to focus fire. Agony enables you to effectively become a tanky DPS even without building tank items. This combined with inherent CC reduction makes for a DPS champion that is difficult to disable.

Agonycan also be used on minions. With decent items, you can solo Baron Nashor. In 3v3 you can solo Ebonmaw at 6 with Madred's Razors or (if you are farmed) Wriggle's Lantern. Agony has a short cooldown so take advantage of that fact.

Runes

Trundle as many other AD champions is the best with the most popular Glyphs and Seals. For those pick.
Greater Seal of Armor x9
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist x9

As for Marks, there are several options on what to pick. I've chosen this.
Greater Mark of Attack Damage x9. They will give you more attack damage, which, when mixed with masteries really improves your Rabid Bite, and overall damage.

For Quint's I've took Armour Penetration ones.
Greater Quintessence of Desolation x3. Mainly since there will be times when enemy is stacking Armour, and this combined with Masteries and your Ultimate will really cut them down fast.

Runes will remain the same no matter the path you chose. Only Masteries and Items will change.

Summoner's Spells

Basicly for both Damage and Tank or Off Tank builds you will use the same spells.

Ignite's use it to chase down your enemy and pick up a kill. Combined with your Agony it is a pretty deadly spell throughout the whole game.

Flash, why? Because it's one of the most OP spells in LoL. They should have removed it by now, but hey they didn't and won't.

Of course if you are a jungle you will switch your Ignite for Smite

Other spells that might come in handy.

Exhaust Used to shut down enemy carrys even more, mixed with your Rabid Bite, they will be helpless, and also it can be used to chase down fleeing enemies.

Heal, because it....heals.

Damage Trundle

This is how I mostly play my Trundle. You will focus on dealing as much damage as possible, which for Trundle isn't hard. Note that you will exchange some of Sustainability and Survivability for damage. You will still have to play very careful, but with bit more aggression.

Items

When it comes to damage Trundle can pick several well known damaging items. However this is what I prefer.

Frozen Mallet. With it's Bonus Health, and Damage it will give you some of that lost Stustain, along with the ability to Slow Down opponents.

Last Whisper is a must on Trundle, since it gives him much needed Amour Penetration. Also it can be changed for The Black Cleaver, or Yoummu's Ghostblade.

Tiamat along with it's pretty nice 50 Bonus Damage, it will give you ability to farm much faster and easier. With it's Mana and Health regen it will serve pretty well when you are left alone to farm. Pretty much nice stats for Trundle, and this build. Some will object but this item is really the "****" on Trundle.

Berserker's Greaves will give Trundle the basic Attack Speed he requires to take out enemies. Mercury's Threads are also a great item on Trundle, but given to Contaminate and it's CC they can be replaced with this item.

Trinity Force, item which will give you every Stat needed for Trundle. Health, Mana, Damage, Critical Chance, Attack Speed and Move Speed.

Wriggle's Lantern And yes, the much needed Life Steal mixed with your passive and Tiamat will give you very much needed Sustain when you are traiding Survival for Damage.

Maw of Malmortius That can help you get a lot of stuff required for Trundle. Magic resist, Damage and ofcourse two abilities that come in handy everytime. First is blocking that magic damage and second is giving you bonus Damage for % of your health missing.


Other pretty handy items

Spirit Visage gives you bonus Health gain from you passive, making it pretty useful if you can't reach Zeke's Herald. Also this item is better for Tank or Off Tank build.

Warmog's Armor You can swap out your Frozen Mallet for this baby if you lack Health, which you shouldn't since Trundle base HP is HUGE. Well not HUGE but BIG.

Banshee's Veil The usual, nothing smart to say about it. Get it if enemy team has too many "ouchy" nukes. Or stuns, or slows. Hell just get it.


Masteries and skill sequence

Tank Trundle

Tank Trundle is pretty much Health and Armour stacking, but due to it's pretty high base HP, he can also cause a lot of damage while taking even more. Tank Trundle main task is shutting down enemy AD carries by harrasing them with bite, and shutting down any escape or charge in path for enemy team. Don't be afraid to rush into fights, especially if you got some good Initiate champion on your side.

Items

Warmog's Armour is the must on Trundle, since it will give you so much health boost, next to your prior high health, and you will be kinda unstoppable. Even if it's bit harder to make( costs a bit), try getting Giant's Belt as soon as you can.

Ninja Tabiversus well known Mercury's Treads Depending on the situation in current game you must take one of these. If the enemy has lot of Crown Control take the Mercury Threads, mixed with your Contaminate equals a massive CC reduction. However if enemy has more AD or AP Champs, then new improved Ninja Tabi is your answer.

Spirit Visage Basicly, Health, Magic Resist and improves your passive. Anything else to say? Oh it's freaking cheap.

Sunfire Cape Alright, so more and more Health along with the ability to burn your enemy ***es off. Along with the bonus Armour you get it's a pretty nice item on Trundle to have around.

Atma's Impaler So everyone knows when you are stacking so much Health that Atma's Impaler is a must. Get it to increase your damage, and the damage of your Rabid Bite. It also adds some nice Critical Chance and Armour.

Thornmail You wanna Armour? There you have it. Of course this item is only good if the enemy team has too many AD carries. If then don't then.

Guardian Angel Why? Seriously? You gonna ask me why?.....

Other items that could come in handy

Force of Nature will enhance survivability to help Trundle shrug off damage caused by CC. And give you some more Move Speed that could prove useful in some times.

Frozen Mallet Can be useful, to harass your enemies when they stay in your Contaminate too long.

Maw of Malmortius Can come in handy because of your high health value to gain a lot of damage.

Skill Sequence

Masteries

Focusing mainly on getting as much Damage Reduction and Health as possible. Trundle's basic Mana is pretty high, so getting some Mana Regen from masteries is useful. Also you will be using Flash, therefore Summoner's Insight.

Style of playing aka Playstyle

Try to lane your self with some AD or AP carry that will profit a lot from your slows and AD Damage shutdowns. Try lasthitting the creeps even if you are with one of those two typse in lane. Wait for your ally to lower their health, then leap in and get the kill. Get some wards into bushes when you are on 5v5 or into jungle when 3v3.

When it comes to team fight your main role will be, as I stated before shutting down enemy AD carries. Harras them with your Rabid Bite if they come too close. Position your Pillar of Filth behind them or try to cut of their escape rout once your team is ready to rush in and make the kills. Make sure you spam your Contaminate and stay in it, to reduce those pesky CC's if the enemy team tries to rush you. Use your Agony to soften the enemy Tank, if they don't have one, focus on the target that could deal too much damage to you. Agony them, and tell your team to focus them. They will fall pretty quick, as the rest of their team.
When enemies rush your team, and your team is bound to lose the fight, throw your Pillar of Filth infront of enemy lane( path they are comming in) to stop their progression.

Jungle Trundle and Off Tank Trundle

Trundle is a great jungler, not necessarily in jungling speed, but in his ability to gank, counterjungle, and stay in the jungle with health. His passive Decompose ablilty gives him health regeneration and Rabid Bite allows him to deal more damage to as well as take less damage from monsters, together allowing him to maintain relatively high health while clearing the jungle. He can go into the enemy jungle as his Contaminate and Pillar of Filth allow him to escape even without boots. Additionally, Contaminate can help him close gaps when ganking and Pillar of Filth can be used to close off escapes for enemies without Flash especially in the small jungle pathways and even check bush for counterjunglers like Shaco. Therefore jungling is a more viable option than laning for Trundle.

Items

Items for Jungle Trundle really depend on what you wanna be in the rest of the game, as any other character. Here I will show you Jungle Trundle mixed with Off Tank Trundle. Remeber Off Tank trundle items will be the same, except one or two I will mention to you.

Of course as any other Jungler Wriggle's Lantern is a must, even for Trundle.

Frozen Mallet Given that you will be Off Tank you still need some Sustain and Survival. Get this item and then mix it with

Atma's Impaler to get some pretty nice damage and Sustain.

Maw of Malmortius same as damage Trundle. Here it can also help you a lot.

Off tank must chose between three type of boots. Berserker's Greaves, Ninja Tabi and of course Mercury's Threads. Given the current situation in your game, you must choose one of those three. I would mostly recommend either Mercury's Threads or Ninja Tabi, leaving Berserker's Graves behind for situation if you really have the unkillable Tank in your team.

Trinity Force As I explained on Damage Trundle part, the same reason here.

Last Whisper Damage, Armour Reduction. Nothing else to say, you will be Off Tank which means you can exchange some Health and Armour for this item.

Jungle time

Starting off for Trundle jungle has two paths. Cloth Armour and 5 pots VS. Vampiric Scepter. I normally go with Vampiric Scepter and start with killing Blue Golem. Get some help from yer teammates and kill it fastly, so you can reduce the cooldown, on already low, Rabid Bite. Then proceed with Wolves, Wraights, Golems. After that you should be ready to take out Red Lizard. When you have done that, and if you still your Blue Buff, you can try and gank the enemy. Ask your teamamtes if some of the enemies wasted Flash, and then focus on them. Jump out with Pillar of Filth behind them, and Contaminate to run faster and get more Attack Speed. Cut him down fast with help of your team mates and continiue jungle. If there is no enemy junglers, use that to get more money, and buffs, and then repay the favour by ganking the enemy. Place wards on Dragon, and close to Baron passage to observe the situation and avoid being taken out. At around level 6 you should be able to kill Dragon with ease, using your Agony on him and spaming Rabid Bite + Contaminate.

Skill Sequence and Masteries

Ok now masteries. I've thought long about this when I was trying to make my Jungle Trundle.
I had some problems with it but this is baseicly what I came up with.

As you can see I've took out point's from Executioner and Deadliness since clearly you don't need them. Investing into Vampirism and Butcher will give you more ability to farm easely. As for Resistance , Hardiness , and Durability + Veteran's Scars is a must on Trundle so it stays the same.
This can also be used for Off Tank Trundle, even tho that Tank Trundle masteries are much better. However if you use these masteries on Off Tank Trundle, swap Butcher for Executioner and Lethality .

Early Trundle

Now that we covered basics and some indepth **** for Trundle, let's talk about his progression in each of these paths. I shall start with Early Trundle, duh!

Early Trundle

Damage

Start off with buying Doran's Blade or Doran's Shield which ever you prefer. Doran's Shield in you are against some heavy AD bastards that can harass you with ease, and Doran's Blade of course if you are against harassable enemies. The best thing that can happen in lane is that you are with good AD carry, against two Melee Champs. You can dominate the lane by cutting out their ability to last hit, and by making them run around in panic when you slow them. Getting Boots of Speed and Phage must be your first items. Then if you like go for Frozen Mallet, or get Last Whisper first to cut down even tanks. Since your Agony has rather small cooldown, I said rather, you can use to very often, not only to get kills but also to harass enemy tank and put him into position to be killed. Remember you are not carry, so leaving some kills to your carry has much more impact then getting them yourself.

Jungle

Start off with a Vampiric Scepter, and ask your teammates to help you "pull" the Blue Buff. Waste your Smite on blue and continue down to Wolves. You will be level two so take Contaminate. After wolfs, take out Wraights and Golems. Then proceed towards Red Buff. In that type try ganking one of the lanes. Go back to your base and purchase things needed for Wriggle's Lantern. If it's complete use the ward on it to scout the Dragon. Unless if the enemy team has a jungler also, then use it to cover the jungle entrance/exit (next to Baron). At level 6 take out Dragon, with or without the help of your Team mates. Here you must decide on what to be. Tank or Damage. Since I saw Trundle's coming out of the Jungle Tanky as hell, not being able to kill them, and I saw them coming out pure damage, with very high ganking ability. Decide on the current situation.

Tank and Off Tank

Both of them start of with the same item. Doran's Shield. Conecntrate on shutting down enemy carries and setting up kills for your team mate if he is a carry. Combo between Trundle and Tryndamere gives you ability to shut down AD carry to the max. Slowing him, Reducing it's damage and picking up a easy kill. Make Phage and proceed towards Spirit Visage. Get Mercury's Threads if the enemy is CC or Ninja Tabi if they are more hitting type.

Middle Trundle

Middle Trundle

Damage

At this point you should have some kills, and be making your path towards Trinity Force. You already have Phage(unless you transformed it into Frozen Mallet) so make Zeal, then Sheen. Complete Trinity Force and make your way towards Tiamat. Keep on supressing enemy with your Rabid Bite and command the flow of a Team Fights with your AoEs.

Jungle

After you took down Dragon continue farming and getting Frozen Mallet. Proceed with Atma's Imapler as soon as you can, and then make your way towards Trinity Force. Leave some Blue Buffs for your AP casters, and continue ganking anyone you can. Find a squishy target, and use that to get yourself some free kills, or to set kills up.

Tank and Off Tank

At this point of game your Warmog's Armour should be completed. If it isn't, then make sure you complete it as fast as you can. Get Spirit Visage right after it and continue setting up kills for your teammates, or yourself. Protect your Carries by cutting the charge path towards them, and feed them by cutting the enemy escape path. Get Sunfire Cape and use it to down the enemies once you rush them. If there are too many AD's getting Thornmail is a must.

Late Trundle

Late Trundle

Truth be told, Trundle pretty much wore out till the end of the game, but it's damage is just too big to be overlooked.

Damage

Getting last items like Zeke's Herald and or Frozen Mallet should be the end of your problems, and end of your build. Continue getting kills, and Transform some of the uneeded items into ones that might prove more useful.

Jungle

By this time you should be out of Jungle, and use it for only when you get killed or waiting for counter push, and of course buffs. Complete the build and do what you did before.

Tank and Off Tank

Now that you have all the neccessary items, complete Atma's Impaler and get a massive damage boost, used to finish the game. At this point, you can swap out your Spirit Visage, for Force of Nature, granting you massive Magic Resist and much needed Health Regen. Continue doing what you did before, and hopefully end the game.

Summary and Thanks

Thanks to: jhoijhoi for How to make a Guide. Learned a lot from it, and there is much more to learn, I just have very little time to upgrade to better BB code right now. Will do it in future.


To close it all, Trundle's jungle ability is veeeeeery good and veeeery high. He can also be utilized into diffirent types of build, each with it's own specialities. 4800 sounds a bit much but you won't be sorry to spend them on him. And also he rarely gets banned in Ranked.

This is a guide, not a written law on how to play Trundle. I am open to suggestions and questions so please ask before you start flaming and disgrading the guide.

Hope you enjoyed it, and take care you all.

Changelog

2012-01-30 -Guide made.
2012-05-22 -Swapped out Zeke Herald since at the time the guide was made it was actually
Stark's Fervor which had much more impact on Trundle.
-Added Maw of Malmortius to all trundle builds.
-Fixed some typos and changed some BB coding.