Tryndamere Build Guide by Zylozs

Updates

6/28 --- Updated the items, runes, and some of the text to a newer and better setup for Tryndamere. Added new background chapter to inform people about Tryndamere's lore.

Thanks to everyone who is actually taking the chance to read this guide! Please don't rate this guide before you have actually read it and thanks to everyone who already contributed with great suggestions! Keep them coming and i'll do my best to keep this guide as up to date as possible!

Intro

Welcome to the League of Critting! In this guide, I will show you the true powers of Tryndamere and why people fear him. I plan to show you my personal builds for both solo laning and jungling. I do not recommend duo lanning as Tryndamere because it lowers his leveling speed, denys him much needed farm, and he doesn't like partners anyways! (Well, besides Ashe of course but that's a whole different story). Lets begin.

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Background

There are those who choose not to live in one of the great city-states of Valoran. Instead, they live in remote locales, often as part of a nomad or barbarian tribe. While perils abound in these untamed lands, there is also great freedom in being removed from the politics of Valoran. Tryndamere was born a member of one of these barbarian tribes in northern Valoran. Even as a young boy, it was obvious that he would grow in martial prowess to become one of his clan's greatest warriors. However, as his clan moved south between the Howling Marsh and the Ironspike Mountains, they came across strangers in black garb, brandishing symbols of a beast's skull. Despite Tryndamere's pleas, his elder went out to speak with the strangers; they cut him down mercilessly. From there, they began to slaughter every man, woman, and child in the clan. Tryndamere, the sole survivor, hid under the bodies of his dead parents. Upon their bloodied corpses, he swore eternal vengeance on those who took his people from him - the assassins of Noxus.

To train himself, Tryndamere voluntarily served under all the great chieftains of the barbarian tribes, learning the ways of the barbarian warrior. Not only did this make him the man he needed to become in order to exact his revenge, it has also garnered him friends and allies among the most powerful barbarian leaders of Valoran. This recently allowed him to unite the barbarians into a single, powerful force - all under his command. Now he has joined the League of Legends to earn enough influence to find a permanent home for his people... and to slake his rage on the champions of his hated foes.

''The next true power will come from the far north, and it will involve Tryndamere - one way or another.'' -Graccus Mightstone, League Senior Political Scholar.

Pros / Cons

Pros: + Hits like a truck + Can spin through walls + Crits + Easy Jungle + 5 second invincibility

TryTry

Cons: - Partially squishy - Often focused - Underplayed (thank god!) - Needs practice to time ulti - Heal isn't useful in combat

Summoner Spells

When playing Tryndamere, it's very very important to have a good set of Summoner Spells to maximize killing potential.

Laning:

Exhaust is your best friend. It super slows them and it decreases their damage. I do realize Tryndamere already has a built in slow, BUT his slow requires them to be turned around and this also gives him a second slow, maximizing his damage potential.

Ignite is amazing on Tryndamere. It gives you the finishing power needed at early levels when its very difficult to get them without tower diving and it also helps late game to help you "secure" the kill without the risk of them escaping.

(OPTIONAL) If you feel as if you just CAN'T keep up with them at all, Ghost is a great alternative to Ignite. This will allow you to either keep up or catch up with your opponent.

(OPTIONAL) Flash isn't very useful for Tryndamere because he already has a built in escape method ( Spinning Slash), but if u feel that you just have to have flash, feel free to grab it as well instead of Ignite

Jungling:

If you are jungling, GET SMITE. I don't care that Fiddlesticks or Shaco don't need it. All junglers NEED smite to prevent counter jungling and for quicker routes.

Exhuast is AMAZING for ganking lanes. You get to slow them twice and keep up with your spin. All the while, you and your team mates are hitting their faces in.

If you'd rather charge in like a freight train, be my guest because its just as useful as super slowing them. Trust me, it does work and its definitely a good second choice.

If you don't see your summoner spell listed, then its probably not a good choice for Tryndamere. However, don't let this discourage you from trying different spells if you think it can help you out.

Runes

What better to start with than runes. Tryndamere is EXTREMELY crit happy and he is completely starved of his crits early game. This is his biggest weakness at level 1. How do we solve this? Simple, you give him crit runes.

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Masteries

I could talk all day about the mastery tree, but you didn't come here to see me talk all day and I honestly don't want to anyways. Here's how it's going to work.

Laning:

When laning Tryndamere, you want to get as much as you can from your masteries so you don't hamper yourself against your opponent. Often times you will be solo lanning and having that advantage will help you win the ongoing fight in your lane! If your duo lanning, I suggest rethinking that idea, but these masteries still work fine!


Offense:
We want to utilize as much of the Offense tree as possible without losing points to useless skills. This is why we only put 21 points into it. It keeps the standard 21 points for most AD champions. This optimizes all the damage potential you can get.

Defense:
Then we branch into the Defense tree because the Utility tree serves no purpose to Tryndamere. On the Defense side, we go with 9 points. Utilizing as much as we can. This is also going with the standard AD champion.

Jungling:

When jungling Tryndamere, Your going to need a different Mastery setup (NOTE: it is only 1 point different in the defense tree this is optional, the laning masteries work just fine!).


Offense:
This tree does not change. It stays with the standard 21 points for most AD champions.

Defense:
Since we are jungling, we put a point in Summoner's Resolve instead of Resistance because we are using Smite. This is purely optional (but it is a little beneficial!).

Early Game / Mid Game / Late Game

Tryndamere is an AD carry. As with all AD carries, if he gets fed, he will pound their face in. If he doesn't get fed but the game drags on long enough and his build starts coming together (regardless of his k/d ratio) he will still start carrying the team because his crits are just devastating. Since we have established that, lets actually take a look at him.

Early Game:

This is the worst part of the game to have Tryndamere in. The reason being is he most likely does not have his crit chance established, and he probably doesn't have his ulti. This is when Tryndamere is easy to feed with and difficult to kill with (without proper runes). This will take skill to secure your kills.

Mid Game:

This is when Tryndamere starts to show his true colors. If you didn't do so well in the Early Game (it happens to me too!), utilize the change of pace with Mid Game. People have started venturing out of their lanes and the game is quickly becoming team battle after team battle. Farm up as much as you can to push your build. In team fights, try to focus like everyone else and don't forget to pop your ulti when your almost dead (you can do it through any cc!).

Late Game:

Regardless of how you did earlier in the game, this is when Tryndamere should shine the brightest. If he was fed, he should be able to 1v3 just about anyone if they can't cc him. Its pretty funny seeing him crit their face in and lifestealing it all back. If he wasn't fed, which is possible if you had a bad lane or bad ganking, you can still shine brightly because by now you should have a very high crit chance established (above 70% without passive) and you should have your Infinity Edge which makes you crit 50% harder. Tryndamere is not pushover when it comes to team fights. If they don't focus you (which isn't common xD people love killing you first), your team will have an advantage and you will carry them to victory with your face smashing powers.

Skills

Tryndamere can level his skills in several different ways, each benefiting him one way or another. If your looking to max potential damage, your in the right place.. Otherwise you might want to find a different guide. Regardless of whether or not he is Jungle or Lane, his skill sequence is as follows.

Tryndamere has a lovely passive, Battle Fury. For every hit/crit/kill he gets rage. For every 1 rage, he gains .35% crit chance. So at 100 rage, he gets 35% crit chance. Isn't that amazing?

Your first point goes into Bloodlust. This gives you increased damage (passively) and increased damage for each percentage of health missing (also passively). When you activate it, it consumes ALL of your rage bar and heals you. MAX THIS FIRST.

Your second point goes into Spinning Slash. This gives you your spin. Oh, your lovely spin. Its like garens spin to win.. but so so much better! You can use it to spin to an enemy to keep critting their face in. You can use it to escape through walls like a pansy. You can even use it to farm! However, you won't need the damage off this because its very minuscule. MAX THIS LAST.

Your fourth point will go into Mocking Shout. This is your slow. If their back is turned, you slow them and it reduces their physical damage. This ability is good to have when chasing, especially with Ghost or Exhaust MAX THIS SECOND.

Your sixth point goes into your ulti Undying Rage. This is Tryndamere's bread and butter. His 5 second invincibility. He is literally unkillable when this ulti is up. The best part is, you can cast it through ANY cc. Yes, ANY cc. However, be warned that when it is over, he will once again be killable. NOTE: Tryndamere STILL TAKES DAMAGE WHILE THE ULTI IS UP, HE JUST CAN'T DIE TAKE A POINT IN THIS EVERY LEVEL POSSIBLE (6,11,16)

Items

Tryndamere is very reliant on his crit. Getting runes can only do so much to get you there.. So we have to compensate the rest of that with his items. We establish crit first. Why? Because Tryndamere needs to be able to crit to deal his damage. He wont be hurtin' 'till his crit is high. Secondly, we build his damage, attack speed, and movement speed. He will be able to hit harder, faster, and out run his opponents making him a monster. Lastly, you give him situational items to counter the enemy team. This is what makes Tryndamere scary.

Laning:

These are your starting items when laning. You need that extra crit to help you get those easy lane kills ;) With the gloves and your runes (if you use the ones above) you should be above 20% crit without your passive. This should give you a clear advantage.


The sequence above is important for a reason. You need to get that Avarice Blade out early as a solo lane Tryndamere. It gives you extra gold and the crit you need (a whopping 12%!). Then you obviously need to move faster so grab your Boots of Speed. Pick up another brawler gloves to up your crit even more and finish your boots with berserker greaves.


I know this item is definetly not seen very often. Why would I even bother to put this item in the build at all when most guides use a Wriggle's Lantern? The answer is simple. You don't need armor as Tryndamere because of his ulti and he is not a tank, the lifesteal on Executioner's Calling is better than Wriggle's Lantern and it provides a whopping 15% crit chance on top of its abilities. Trust me, its worth it and you will be keeping it for the rest of the game (unless you chose to replace it late game with a better item).


I know you might want that infinity edge first (which is a completely viable choice if you want to do it), however i prefer to just grab the B. F. Sword first for the damage and finish my Zeal second for the extra crit, movement speed, and attack speed. All of which are very helpful. Then you can finish your Infinity Edge and Phantom Dancer. Feel free to swap this up if you feel the need to get that damage sooner and the speed later.


These are the last two items in the build and honestly at this point you are free to do what you want. I enjoy getting a Last Whisper for the incredible 40% armor penetration and the The Bloodthirster for even more lifesteal (keep in mind you will sell your Avarice Blade to buy your final item). However, these last two items are the best two slots to fill with situational items. For more information about Situational Items, please read the Chapter on Situational Items.

Jungling:

When jungling, you start off differently, however, it quickly merges into the same build and that is why I will only show the differences in the build. If you want to see how the build finishes, please view the above text about the build.


When you jungle Tryndamere, you want to start with the Vampiric Scepter. It'll give you the lifesteal you need to survive. You should be fine on crits because your runes and passive will take care of you. For jungle route, please see the Jungle Route section of the guide.


After jungling a bit and possibly even ganking, make sure to grab your Boots of Speed, Madred's Razors and finish off your Wriggle's Lantern (yes its actually useful as a jungle Tryndamere because of the armor and its ability).


At this point the guide reverts itself to the normal one. We do not take Executioner's Calling when jungling because the Wriggle's Lantern is more beneficial. You are welcome to take one anyways if you enjoy it! Please look above in the "Laning" section of this chapter for more information on the build.

Situational Items

There comes a point in time when your build can branch off into what is needed for the game. Once you have completed your Phantom Dancer and Infinity Edge, you are free to select what is needed or wanted. But how do we determine what is needed? These kind of items are called situational items.

In the previous Chapter, I have Last Whisper and The Bloodthirster as my last two items. Now these are my situational items. For some reason, tanky teams have been very popular lately and thats why the Last Whisper even made it to the list, however you really should make these items what is needed for the team. Listed below are some good questions to ask yourself about the enemy composition and items that would be great for countering them.

WHAT DOES THE ENEMY TEAM HAVE/WHAT DO I NEED?

• Do they have less than 150 armor? ----> Build what you want (preferably damage) Suggestion: The Bloodthirster
• Do they have more than 150 armor? ----> Build armor penetration Suggestion: Last Whisper or The Black Cleaver
• Are they AD centered? ----> Build armor Suggestion: Thornmail or Randuin's Omen
• Are they AP centered? ----> Build magic resist Suggestion: Force of Nature or Maw of Malmortius
• Is your health just not enough? ----> Build Health Suggestion: Frozen Mallet or Warmog's Armor
• Do you want to move faster or hit faster? ----> Build movement/attack speed Suggestion: Phantom Dancer
• Are your CD too long for you? ----> Build Cooldown Reduction Suggestion: Youmuu's Ghostblade

Jungle Route / Ganking

When you are jungling as Tryndamere, there is actually 2 good routes you can take. Both work equally well and its up to you really which one you prefer. I personally prefer route 1.

NOTE: RED BUFF ROUTE IS CURRENTLY IN THE MAKINGS

Route 1:

In this route, you start off at blue. Get a leash from your mid lane because it makes life so much simpler. Also, keep in mind your rage will be pretty low so that will make it much more difficult without the leash. Make sure to use your smite to start it off or finish it(up to you!). When finished with blue, head over to wolfs and kill them. Quickly head over to the wraiths and then to red. Red will be tough, and if you did this route, your smite will be up by the time your a few seconds into red. Finish off red and head to golems. At this point, you are good to gank other lanes. You should be level 4 or damn near it (if not, kill the wolfs and wraiths as they come up). NOTE: DO NOT USE YOUR Q DURING THIS ENTIRE JUNGLE ROUTE UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO DIE WITHOUT THE HEAL BECAUSE YOU WILL LOSE YOUR RAGE AND CRIT!

Route 2:

This route starts off at wolfs. Only kill 2 of the wolfs (a big one and a small one is the best option). Head over to blue as soon as you do so and make sure your mid gives you a quick leash. You should have around half of your rage bar by the time you get to blue making it much easier and probably quicker. When you kill blue, head back to the wolfs, finish that last one off (this is to keep your rage up as much as possible in the transition between camps). Head over to wraiths, kill them quickly and head over to golems. Once your done with golems head over to red and kill it. This route is more difficult if you don't have any crit runes and is not recommended for people without crit runes.

Ganking:

When ganking as Tryndamere, you want to gank lanes that the enemy has over extended in (this almost guarantees a kill!). The reason behind this is because Tryndamere is very hard to out run when he comes in from behind. Make sure to slow them when their backs are turned and to spin to them when needed (Critting lowers the CD on your spin by 2 seconds for ever crit!). When lanes are not over extended by the enemy, just showing your face and jumping in for a single hit can be just as effective. This will scare off the enemy and make them aware that your not just a figment of their imagination. Remember to use teamwork when ganking lanes. Just running into two of them alone will not help your team any.

NOTE: USE YOUR SPIN TO GO THROUGH WALLS, IT HELPS OUT A LOT WHEN HEADING TO A LANE IN TROUBLE!

Concluding Notes

Thank you for reading my guide. I created this guide to let people see why Tryndamere is such an AMAZING champion and how he can crit their face in with his sword. Hopefully you've taken something from this guide to utilize in your Tryndamere playing. Thanks again for reading!

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