Hello fellow Rammus players, my name is ONLYUSEmeSACK (Sack for short) and I am here to give you tips and advice on how to play Rammus. I have been maining Rammus for about 6 months now and have played countless games with him. In this guide I am going to tell you everything you will need to know about Rammus.

Runes on Rammus, I feel, are very much up to the player. There is no one rune set that you are forced to use as Rammus, therefore don't feel like "Oh, I don't have the correct runes that this build says so I'm not going to play Rammus." Use what ever runes you have, you will do fine. NOTE: If you are jungling I would recommend that you use armor seals so that you can survive in the jungle. Now on the the runes that I recommend on Rammus.

Marks:

Greater Mark of Desolation - This is a good rune you are soloing top or jungling. If you are solo top then you will be able to go right through their armor and doing more damage to armor stacking champions late game. Last, when jungling this rune will help you clear camps a bit faster which is always good.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration - This rune benefits Rammus in almost always considering that Rammus' abilities are all AP based. The only thing it doesn't help is his jungling but it's not that big of a deal.

I would recommend one of these two for Rammus.

Seals:

Greater Seal of Armor - This is really the only rune that is a must. It synergizes very well with his passive and gives him the early game tankyness he needs to do well. Also, they allows him to clear camps in the jungle with ease.

The only other rune that I would take in this slot is Greater Seal of Defense and it would only be good when soloing top.

Glyphs:

There are endless choices of glyphs that you can take on Rammus but the two that I think are the most effective are Greater Glyph of Magic Resist or Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist. These are good for protecting against those pesky AP carries. Since in my item build I don't get MR until a bit later (This will be talked about more in the items part of the guide) these will help you out.

Remember: Glyphs are not set in stone so play Rammus and get a feel for what you need. Choose what you want!

Quintessences:

Quintessences are, again, up to the player. Take what you feel you need. But, in my standard build I use Greater Quintessence of Desolation for the same reason that I use Greater Mark of Desolation (Read the "Marks" section for explanation).

Masteries can be changed with play style. I would, however; recommend the defense tree because Rammus is a tank. NOTE: When jungling Runic Affinity is a must to keep buffs rolling longer. Rammus relies on Blue Buff when clearing camps early game and it's always nice to gank with red buff.

Items on Rammus are based on the enemy team composition. The build at the top is the standard build that I run on Rammus. The only problem with the build is that you will be a bit low on MR early / mid game. Rammus' items are very situational and it is up to you as the player to decide what you need.

The Standard Build:

First Items:

Cloth Armor and 5x Health Potion - For jungling or soloing top against AD
Null-Magic Mantle 2x Health Potion - Soloing top against AP

Early Items:

Boots:

There are 4 options of boots that could be used on Rammus.
Ninja Tabi - Heavy AD or Standard
Mercury's Treads - Heavy CC or AP
Boots of Swiftness - If you like them, go for it.(I used these when I first played Rammus)
Mobility Boots - Never used them but could work out.

Philosopher's Stone - Health and mana regen is great for jungling or solo top and the GP 5 is good to help transition into mid-game. (This should be sold when you need an item slot.)
Heart of Gold - Nice chunk of early game health and GP 5 is great. (This should be built in to Randuin's Omen or sold when you need an item slot.)

The Rest of the Game:

Randuin's Omen - Health regen, armor, and Health are all nice to have in the early to mid-game. The 5% CDR is also nice although Rammus' cooldowns are already pretty low. The chance to slow attackers movement speed and attack speed is really nice as well. Last, the active of AoE slow to movement speed and attack speed are really during team fights.

Sunfire Aegis - This is really good because of the armor that it gives and this huge chunk of health. Great for mid to late-game.

Force of Nature - This item is good for a standard enemy team comp. because most team comps. have some AP. This item takes care of that and also does more. Massive health regen to sustain after a team fight is over and and 8% movement speed increase. Overall, a great item on Rammus.

Warmog's Armor - This item is a great for Rammus. I makes him almost unkillable :D! It gives 920 base health and 30 base health regen. But thats not all, every minion kill grants bonus health and health regen capping at 350 bonus health and 10 bonus heath regen. A great addition to Rammus.

Guardian Angel - This is the icing on the cake for Rammus. A good bit of armor, MR, and health, as well as a revive at 750 health and 350 mana in case they some how manage to kill you.

One quick thing on Thornmail, I see lots of Rammus' getting thornmail as their first or second item. DO NOT DO THIS! First or second item Rammus is defeat. Rammus needs health as well as armor and MR. I see way too many first item Rammus' running around getting killed fast because they have little or no health. A first time Rammus' mind set is "My W's passive is like a Thornmail so it would be a good idea to get one." NO! NOTE: Thornmail is not a bad item on Rammus but it needs some health to go with it. If there team is heavy on AD then it is a great item. I'm not hating on Thornmail, I just see way to many Rammus' get it early on or when a team has only one AD carry.

Now that that rant is over back to items!

First, Enemy Team Comps.

Heavy AD:
Replace Force of Nature with Thornmail and Guardian Angel with Banshee's Veil or Frozen Heart. AD is very deadly, especially if they have armor pen. That extra MR is not worth it when you have Defensive Ball Curl and replacing Guardian Angel with Banshee's Veil is good if their AD have CC. Last, Frozen Heart is very good as well against AD. It gives a nice chunk of armor and slows attack speed of nearby enemy's by 20%. Both are good.

Heavy AP:
Replace Randuin's Omen with Banshee's Veil. This is good because Banshee's Veil give a nice chunk of MR and some health and mana which is good for Rammus in all ways. NOTE: Still get Heart of Gold for early game health and still get Sunfire Aegis for a little Armor and a nice chunk of health. (Also, those flames look cool. :D)

Heavy CC:
This is a very big choice for the player to make. If they have a heavy CC team you can get Banshee's Veil which is what I would recommend for most situations or Quicksilver Sash. Most of the time Banshee's Veil will be the best but if they have a Soraka or more that one silence get Quicksilver Sash. You would want to do this because silence's are a MAJOR counter for Rammus. If Rammus is silenced while initiating he can't Puncturing Taunt or Defensive Ball Curl and without using those abilities Rammus becomes squishy and almost useless. You need Quicksilver Sash to cleanse that silence and get your job done.


Wriggle's Lantern?
This is an item that I have seen on Rammus in professional play but have never tried it. It can be good for farming early game and doing a fast dragon. It also has the built in ward which is very nice. Last, it has life steal which is good for early sustain in the jungle. Overall, I feel this is an item depending on play style, so if you want it, it's not a bad choice. (I think that it should be sold for your last item because late game it has almost no use for Rammus.)

That concludes the item section of this guide.Remember: Items on Rammus are situational so choose them based on enemy team comp.

In this section of the guide I am going to talk about why you max each skill out, what each skill does, and how and when you use them.

Spiked Shell - This is Rammus' awesome passive! It gives him 25% of his armor in to attack damage. This is really nice when you are soloing top against AD because you get the less damage they do to you and the more damage that you do to them. This also helps in the jungle for the same reason.

Powerball - This is Rammus' "Q". It