Hello everyone, after much debate I finally decided to put a build together and post it. I often see Trundle being played quite wrong or rather not living up to his potential. I decided to try various builds/strats in order to find a versatile build that would fit into any team quite nice. Please note that this guide was built around a 3's match. Why? Simply because I enjoy 3's more than I do 5's. So with that being said, please keep that in mind when submitting responses to this guide.

I welcome all constructive comments to help improve this guide and my own play style. If you are going to correct me or bash me in any way, please at least have the evidence and numbers to prove it. Thank you.

Pros:

- Steady DPS
- Great at dividing opponent's team
- Dismembers Tanks
- Quick Escapes for you and your team
- Mana/CD's are hardly ever an issue
- Easy to jungle with
- Amazing health regen

Cons:

- Squishy to some degree
- Slow start with item build
- Usually focused once potential is realized
- Lack of burst often leads to KS, which isn't really the point anyhow

Greater Mark of Desolation - You are focusing a tank most of the match,only makes sense to eat through as much armor as you can.

- Attack damage, does not scale as drastically as other champions but with the amount of attack speed and armor pen you do, this proves to be a good choice none the less.

- Your quick abilities is what defines your teams encounters. Your ability Contaminate is almost always up and proves to be invaluable.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation - Again, armor pen.

So why does Trundle make such a great tank killer? Well after long debates and countless tests of item builds and scenarios, here is what I have deduced. Lets say that the opponent's tank is well built with a full armor item build. Something say of around 300 Armor. That is a good amount, right? Normally, you would have nothing to do with such a monster....well as a melee champion anyways.

Armor Pen

Enemy Tank's Base Armor = 300

Ability: (Max Level) = 25% of total armor/magic resistance stolen

Item: = 40% of total armor value

Rune: Greater Mark of Desolation = -25 Armor

Mastery: Sunder = -6 Armor

300 - 25% = 75 Armor Reduced
300 - 40% = 120 Armor Reduced
300 - 195 = 105 Armor Remaining after Agony and Last Whisper.
105 - 25 = 80 Armor Remaining after Runes applied.
80 - 6 = 74 Armor Remaining after Mastery's applied.

Previous Total Armor: 300
Remaining Total Armor: 74

Granted this is an ideal situation an it is still unclear if Agony is fixed to take % from total rather than current, this is the only speculation that I'm still researching. Although as you can see from the stated above, if used properly you can unleash havoc on any tank.

Standard Build

- Attack speed proves to be one of the most crucial stats for Trundle, A flat number gain which will help abilities scale.

- A great core item, buffs party and gives essential boosts to all the right stats.

- Again, flat number gain for attack speed, critical chance, and movement speed. Movement speed proves to be crucial for ganks/chases. Your speed on contaminate simply allows you to out maneuver your opponents.

- The bread and butter of the item build. This item alone will make tanks run from you on sight. It provides a flat number gain for multiple stats, but the passive is what makes this amazing. 4% Magic damage of Max Health of hit. Tank has 4500 Health? That's 180 Magic damage on top of your normal physical damage PER HIT!

- 40% Armor Pen, need I say more?

- Huge buff to overall attack damage and crit damage. Now you will really hit them where it hurts.

*Note: You can substitute items that decrease armor if you notice that the tank is going for more of a hybrid build. There are great choices, but I prefer to continue to stack attack damage and attack speed. Even if the tank is armor/hp stacking, you will have no problem getting the kill just as easily.

Trundle is pretty much a straight forward champion. His is his main damaging ability, feel free to use on cool-down due to its low mana cost. When setting up a gank, I usually lead off with to decrease his armor and to increase my own. Next, I drop just outside of my targets escape route. Once I catch him, I use . I will wait for them to usually pop what ever escape mechanic they may have, once they do I drop usually cutting off their escape and securing a kill.

Only use and as last ditch efforts to secure a kill, if by chance you miss or are assisting a friendly champion.

Attack Order
R > W > Q > Auto > E (to seal escape)

For those of who you need "proof" that this build and guide is viable, here are some screen caps. I'm thinking of doing a few videos and uploading them as well. Please remember that these are in fact 3's games.


This team openly laughed at my item build in the first 15 minutes of the game. 4 minutes and 35 seconds left, they surrendered.

Early Game
First and foremost, Trundle is an amazing Jungler, BUT this is 3's and is not the most ideal way to farm. I normally start off in a lane and play it safe until level 3 or so. I then begin to kill creeps in the Jungle while clearing lanes as I'm cutting through. This will usually attract some attention from the opposite team. At level 4 you welcome the attention and move your team in position for a gank. I continue this process until level 6 where I usually hop back into a lane and begin pushing towers. I continue to farm lanes/creeps and keep constant pressure on the opponents towers until level 10.

Mid Game
Usually by this point I have a few kills or multiple assists. The enemy team will likely start focusing you due to your lane survivability and constant pressure. They will likely set up a gank or push you. When they do, cut off the tank from the rest of his team using Pillar of Filth. Drop Agony and Contamination and a Rabid Bite. This may or may not kill the tank, in such a case, use Contamination to run away once pillar fades. Hide in the brush and circle around until your back in position to finish the tank or receive team help. During this phase I usually farm Red Buff/Dragon Buff/Speed Buff every time they are available. My job Mid Game is to assist team kills and to push tower.

Late Game
By now you are level 18 and usually an unstoppable killing machine. The tank fears you and the enemy team will do anything to focus you down. Use this to your teams advantage! Harass the enemy team as your team secures Inhibitor/tower/nexus kills. You can escape and evade quit well, and 4-5 creeps restore you to full health.

*Note: Yes, you will die like every other champion. I am no way claiming that you will be an unstoppable god of death. What I am saying is that if played right, you can divide and conquer the opponents team while still escaping with a kill.