Wukong Build Guide by Limulus

Do you want to win a game at about 35 minutes?

Do you want to win a game at about 35 minutes in game with scores like below??
but are just average at last hitting or ganking??
here's a few game examples

6/2/3 164cs = 14.2k gold
7/2/13 151cs = 14.7k gold
7/5/5 187cs = 14.3k gold
6/6/13 204cs = 16.6k gold <- (40 min game)
8/6/7 229cs = 17.2k gold <- (40 min game)

this next image show's general win/loss. I will try to upload more "loss" games to show how it can turn out good even though lost the game.
if yes, then please continue reading down this build.

Introduction

PLEASE TEST THIS OUT (at least 3X) BEFORE RATING

Wukong is currently very EXPENSIVE sitting at 6300 IP or 975 RP. BUT he is very very variable character that can go AD GLASS CANNON, TANK, JUNGLER, SOLO or SUPPORT... OR ALL IN ONE like this build =D and be a TANKY DPS. not only that, wu is an EXCEPTIONAL LANING CHAMP in ANY lane. YES ANY LANE!

Wukong's Wiki Page is right here: Thanks LOLWiki
http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Wukong_the_Monkey_King

Hi all, this will be my first Guide. it is BLAH... i know, but bear with it plz and thank you for reading =D i am bad at writing a guide but will try my best. bear in mind this is the build i myself use most of the time.

When I first started LoL, WuKong was one of the free champs, and all i said was, "OMG THEY GOT JOURNEY TO THE WEST'S HERO!!"

and WuKong has been my main ever since lvl 1 =D yes i saved IP just for him!

Pros / Cons on this build

Pros

Fast gold - The passive money from Greed Greater Seal of Gold Greater Quintessence of Gold Philosopher's Stone Avarice Blade will give u a WHOPPING 32.25gp/10 seconds (usual gain is 16 gp/10). not to mention, you get rewarded for harassing through Pickpocket .
Lane Control - WuKong is one of many heroe's that can go to any of the 3 lanes solo and come on top or else able to defend his tower. - this build will give you the edge to capitalize at STAYING in lane with the Philosopher's Stone.
Pusher - Nimbus Strike helps for atk spd and hitting 3 enemies at the same time.
Tower Taker - Crushing Blow + Nimbus Strike's atk spd boost can make taking towers FAST.
Bruising - very good burst + DPS through Frozen Mallet, The Black Cleaver, Blade of the Ruined King
Chaser - movespeed of 415 with just Mercury's Treads, added with Nimbus Strike and a Frozen Mallet or Blade of the Ruined King later will let no enemy escape!

Cons

low sturdiness early game - you're items that will give you armor and res are Runic Bulwark and Iceborn Gauntlet, which you probably won't be picking it off early as you will want to rush The Black Cleaver and Frozen Mallet.
medium sturdiness endgame - low armor and magic resist 128 armor and 131 resist. Stone Skin makes it 168 armor and 171 resist given there are all 5 enemy champions around.
passive - more passive play for around the first 10 minutes as u farm for Philosopher's Stone and Avarice Blade.
low damage output early - you will not be able to trade blows early. you won't deal much damage early until you pick up brutalizer. even in jungler's lane gank, you may have trouble dishing damage. if that's the case, just passive farm and tell jungler not to gank your lane. btw, this does not mean you can't harass to build gold through Pickpocket =P

Why gp10 runes and masteries?!?

Many people ask me "why gp10? it will make u weak early!" well, here I will discuss "why gp10". let me know if anyone wants more clarifications. Thanks =D

with gp10 runes/masteries and items I can say that it hurts for the first 10-15 minutes because u will be trading offensive/defensive items like Phage, The Brutalizer, Sheen, Giant's Belt, Glacial Shroud, Warden's Mail... etc...

however, I have noticed that even tho this build may hinder ur lane presence, it makes up for it in late game fights with the items you pick up with them. I depict it as a "hidden" presence. once too many times I would have enemy team end game chat with me and go "wth wukong, how the heck are u more fed than ur adc?!?! even top shut u down good! u have less kills, more deaths, less assists and less cs than the them yet more gold?!?!" I even finished this build around the 35-40 minute mark.

why gp10 runes/masteries/items?
masteries = +2gp/10
runes = +5.25/gp/10
Philosopher's Stone = 5gp/10
Avarice Blade = 3gp/10 + 2gp every last hit
total gold from gp10 = 15.25 + 2gp every last hit

ur normal gp10 gain is already at 16 gp/10... GREAT for supports right? of course! since they don't last hit at all and can just gain gold passively! well, think if u got it for someone who DOES dmg and TAKES LAST HITS. this means that if you have this build, ur passive (no last hitting) game play will almost DOUBLE on top of ur aggressive play! yes, u trade off ur early game, but this brings ur mid and late game in FASTER!

<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=2w6z1js" target="_blank"><img src="http://i36.tinypic.com/2w6z1js.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>

that image was made by me Limulus shows the gp10 accumulation. *NOTE THE GP10 ITEMS WERE PICKED UP AFTER 10 MINUTE MARK* in real game, u usually can pick them up after 5 minutes. the gp10 prices r...
philsopher's stone = 700 gp
Kage's Lucky Pick = 765 gp
Avarice Blade = 800 gp

if u want to know the total gold gained minus gold used for the gp10 items, just subtract off the prices of the items and look at where u'r at.

Runes

Quintessence + Seal
This adds an additional 5.25 Gold every 10 seconds to you, usual gold gain is 16.0 gp/10, with this, you will sit at 22.25 gp/10.

Glyph
MAGIC RESIST/LVL gives u 1.35 MR every level up, grand total at 24.3. this and the utility masteries enables Wukong to be at 78 armor and 77 resists at lvl 18. basically with Stone Skin, when Wu is in a fight with 3 or more enemy champions, you have 103 def and 102 res, roughly 50% damage reductions, and THIS IS WITHOUT ANY DEFENSIVE ITEMS =O

**another option**
put in flat armor for the early game top lane phase. It helps you sustain a little bit better for when you want to get those CS but will take dmg for doing it. never take CS unless you know its reward>risk!

Mark
11.52 ARP for that little extra dmg early game for poking or for cs. Plus it scales better to end game than AD flats/perlvl

Masteries

yes,UTILITY for the awesome things it has.

Pickpocket - get rewarded for harassing!
Vampirism - makes sure your harasses benefit more than just damage the opponent.
Wanderer and Nimble - enables him to auto attack and chase after enemy units easy. basically gives you 17.25 more MS
Mastermind - 10% cdr on your summoners.
Artificer - works great for Blade of the Ruined King
Intelligence and Sorcery - who does not want 10% COOLDOWN REDUCTION?
Weapon Expertise - great endgame damage stacked on top of The Black Cleaver and Last Whisper
Greed - free money while you do other things

Summoner Spells

Whatever you feel comfortable with can go here... but not Smite, once you hit 10 mins ingame, Smite is useless for Wukong. besides... You can use his Crushing Blow and Nimbus Strike combo to deal massive damage to anything.

What i personally like using is Flash and Exhaust

Flash
more offensive and for those situations where you need to GRAB someone from a distance.

Ignite
don't save ignite for that "last minute hit" cuz sometimes they may be holding healing utilities and you won't be able to kill them with it. instead use this to hurt their abilities to heal while fighting!
-great counter vs Sion, Tryndamere, Soraka, Alistar, Dr. Mundo, Volibear

Heal
Enables you to heal yourself and allies back up when in battle or out

Exhaust
if someone is hurting you or getting away, you can Exhaust them to make them deal less damage and lower their movement. i like to use it on champs that are fighting back or else Cyclone then Exhaust them in it later on, use it vs adc/apc is most viable.

Teleport
used to get to bottom lane for dragon whenever he comes out. Teleport to protect your towers. also while farming and a team fight needs an initiator... you Teleport to a creep within them and come out with your Cyclone right when you land!

Skill Sequence

LEVEL 1:
Go with Nimbus Strike if you want to be hiding in the bush at lvl 1 and attack enemy (assistance may be needed)
Nimbus Strike -> Decoy -> Crushing Blow -> Nimbus -> Nimbus -> Cyclone

OR

Decoy if you are solo laning vs 2 or you want to play it safe
Decoy -> Nimbus Strike -> Crushing Blow -> Nimbus -> Nimbus -> Cyclone

What you want to do is max your Nimbus Strike first before everything else, and when possible, pick up Cyclone

"Why Nimbus Strike first??"
Because i said so and this is my guide! jk, the actual reason is that with Nimbus Strike maxed, you're attack speed increases by 50% for 4 seconds. farming will be super easy and even in group battles you lay waste to everyone not just your target. Also, turret taking with the atk spd is just by far much more efficient than Crushing Blow.

Besides, what you really need with your Crushing Blow is just to reduce enemy Champion's armor by 30% and at lvl 1, it already does this. adding lvls only reduce CD and deal a little more damage. Basically, that single hit with maxed Crushing Blow does not do as much damage as a maxed out Nimbus Strike's attack speed bonus. Even if it is against one unit.

Unique Skills - Some Useful Tactics

Crushing Blow

Crushing Blow - does initial damage and lowers target's armor by 30%, then instantly adds an auto attack that will splash with Tiamat AND proc up with Sheen. although the armor reduction does not work with the splash, it's good for massive damage in AoE. therefore when you see big waves of creeps, Nimbus Strike into the one that's surrounded by most of them, and activate your Crushing Blow on him and watch gold counts pop up all over your screen =D

Nimbus Strike

Nimbus Strike - Jump towards enemy on WuKong's nimbus cloud running into them (dmg dealt) and hitting them (dmg dealt again with an INSTANT auto attack that's based off your AD + Sheen if proc'ed). This gives you good burst with his skill because of that.

*note* I've done Glass Cannon build on WuKong and merely, within 1.5 seconds, the enemy has dropped from full bar of 2k hp down to nothing. if not, u just decoy and wait another 1.5 seconds and activate your abilities again when they come in.

Decoy

Decoy - provides u 1.5 seconds of invisibility to escape, wait cooldown or jump in without them knowing.

it's also excellent for faking where you are, if you press "S" to stop, your enemy (granted they know WuKong's Decoy when activated will just stop doing anything]] will try to anticipate where you are going. this makes great play when you are trying to run away. what you do is press "S" that's about 1.5 seconds distance run to the bush, but don't run to it. and when you see them running in a direction (they will think you're going to hide in the bush) you scurry really fast out of there in the opposite direction of the bush! hahahah! CAUTION, they may not fall for it and continue to attack you, if they do... just decoy and run to the bush and then run out =P

or you can double play it up, when they try to get you "at bush" and realize you never Decoy'ed, and then they come back to you, now you actually Decoy and run to the bush =P and run... this will leave them going "WTH WK!! WHERE ARE YOU!?!? /facepalm"

or if you're in bush and don't want them to know you're coming to get them, you Decoy in bush and run to them and Nimbus Strike!

Cyclone

Cyclone is very good Crowd Control (CC) that does a knock up on first time touching an enemy unit and Move Speed (5% MS inc ever .5 sec) for chasing/running. not only that, it's DPS is amazing! at lvl 3 it does 200(+1.2 per attack damage). with this build, 336.6 AD, you're sitting at 200+(403.92) damage a second! and if you sit hitting one target, it does 2615.68 dmg total! well, given they have NO armor whatsoever.

Downside to this is that you don't life steal when you are using this =C So carrying Heal helps you stay in there longer to counter enemy attacks while using Cyclone.

you can howeveer stop this prematurely by pressing "R" again, just to use it for the knock up against one enemy hero, and DPS them to death.

*FUN NOTE* if you have a Blitzcrank on your team, you Cyclone knocking enemies into the air, and Blitzcrank uses his Power Fist onto one of them... they will be in the air OUT OF THE SCREEN for about 4 seconds then come back down! =O

Positioning

if you have the time, on outside of side lanes there's the bushes. if you get into one bush. and you want to get into the other bush without being noticed, Decoy at the edge of the bush and run to the other bush to set yourself up with your ally who's in lane to gank them.

Since you are initiating, you can go into the jungle side and flank to their back. when you're there, surprise the enemy by RUNNING, yes, RUNNING to them so they see you, and have them send out their CD's onto you. but make sure to anticipate them, when you see them start casting their skills, Decoy so they will land it all on your fake. then your allies and you should run in, you using your Nimbus Strike + Crushing Blow + Cyclone combo onto them and watch for ACE announcement. (hopefully it's ACE for you guys =P)

Harassing Enemy Champions

in Top solo, Mid solo or Bot dual/solo lane, wu can always do this efficiently.
-Using Nimbus Strike into the enemy, and with this, WuKong will jump to them crashing for nimbus damage, and automatically he attacks. so you will be instantly bursting with a crash+auto attack right here. next you want to execute your Crushing Blow right after those bursts, then Auto attack if you can. But almost instantly, the enemy will try to fight back. this is when you Decoy yourself out of there. most of the time it will be very easy to just run back the way you came, but sometimes, you may notice the enemy is onto you and will chase the way you came. If that is the case. Run a different direction, you can't really get very far with 1.5 seconds, but if you run opposite of your enemy, you will be far enough.

When you feel that you can kill them, Nimbus Strike in, or if needed, go Decoy to run closer and then Nimbus Strike into them and Crushing Blow them to lower the armor by 30% for 4 seconds, then Cyclone chasing them. if they Flash out, chase right after and when they are within range, and if you have Exhaust up, use it and continually hit them with Cyclone or auto attacks until they try to run then you Nimbus Strike + Crushing Blow again right away for finishing blows.

but if you should look like you're losing the fight, Decoy out and they will see a Wukong scurrying away =D

Item Order

Starting Items

These will help you be able to survive the LANING PHASE until u get back to buy new items:

always:
Rejuvenation Bead
Faerie Charm
or
Crystalline Flask

options:
2X Health Potion+ Mana Potion
or 3X Health Potion if you know you will not be harassing much.

try to stay in lane until u reach 1,215 (faerie and bead start) or 1,575 gold. it should be fairly easy seeing as you have one Decoy, Health Potion and Rejuvenation Bead/ Crystalline Flask to stay in lane long. don't be afraid to use your abilities to last hit with. especially the siege creep then recall back and get yourself a Philosopher's Stone and Avarice Blade AND a Sight Ward.

if you should have to recall back before that, then make sure to buy a Philosopher's Stone usually with ZERO kills top, and you're just last hitting away, you should be able to get both of them within 5-8 minutes. with a kill or even first blood, you will get it in 5 minutes =D

then after that, go back and passively farm some more and build up to Boots of Speed and The Brutalizer.

keep in mind, with just Boots of Speed, you should be about 387 MS... you don't need to upgrade if you do not want to.

Tier 2 Boot, whichever one that will help the game out from these:
Ninja Tabi - armor and 10% dmg reductions FROM AUTO ATTACKS
Mercury's Treads - mr and 35 tenacity
Ionian Boots of Lucidity - 15% cdr
Boots of Swiftness - t3 movespeed

the enchantment I recommend is Captain - Allied champions moving towards you gain a movement speed boost. Additionally, nearby allied minions gain a large movement speed bonus.

The Black Cleaver - synergies expertly with Cyclone as it does damage every half second! building full stack of reduction in 2.5 seconds!! the stats it gives are exceptionally good too.

Frozen Mallet - now chasing down enemy champs will be a sinch with Frozen Mallet's slow. Not only that, you can survive damages now with extra 700 HP.

Blade of the Ruined King - give's you great life steal and this is your Cyclone's best friend. this makes sure the enemy you're chasing does not get away or if their caught inside cyclone, they don't escape!

6 items now!

do not sell off your Philosopher's Stone or Avarice Blade just yet. with the items you currently have, you can wait until you have enough money to buy the following items... make sure to sell Avarice Blade first then and item. then sell Philosopher's Stone then buy your last item.

Runic Bulwark or Iceborn Gauntlet

Runic Bulwark - by this time, you should find that everyone on their team is just about starting to get "tanky" and you won't be able to last a long time now. so buying Runic Bulwark should enable you to get in there and wreak HAVOC =P

Iceborn Gauntlet - although it's passive slow does not work with Blade of the Ruined King and Frozen Mallet slows, it does help aoe slow the enemies around your target and gives you that splash dmg.

lastly, if it gets to this, sell your boots and buy this:
Zephyr - gives you, tenacity, 20 AD, 10% MS (34.5 MS for wu), 50% AS, 10% CDR!

Build Justification: Why These Items?

Mercury's Treads - 1,200
The Black Cleaver - 3,000
Frozen Mallet - 3,300
Blade of the Ruined King - 3,200
Runic Bulwark - 2,950
Iceborn Gauntlet - 3,250

Total price for the above listed items are just 16,900.

Boots. Pick ONLY one, as they do not stack and u can buy better stuff than another boot.
Ninja Tabi - this helps u cover your butt with 10% damage reductions from auto attacks. stacked onto wu's tanky passive and it's soo nice =P
Mercury's Treads - HOLY COW! the enemy has a lot of Crowd Controls... basically so u can do what u want more often.
Ionian Boots of Lucidity - if u think u can go without defense and want high outputs of damage, this is ur baby =D it allows u to use ur skills more often.
Boots of Swiftness - It's always a hassle to see the enemy run off because they got the same move speed as you, and have skill shots that help boost them escape. This boot makes it so you can get within range of your Nimbus Strike to hit them and land with ur auto attacks more often... also Frozen Mallet's slow enables u and ur allies to catch them! =D

Captain's enchantment - you should be in there first most of the time or while your chasing. therefore your allies can come into battle faster as they run towards you.

The Black Cleaver - armor reduction on top of your Crushing Blow and takes advantage of Cyclone's Area of Effect. resulting in tons of reduction to everyone in it.

Frozen Mallet - GREAT synergy with Wu's Nimbus Strike. not only that, it provides u with 700 health. towards end game it helps keep you alive to keep dishing out your damage AND slow enemies that try to escape from your ganks.

Blade of the Ruined King - great for fast enemies so you can drain their movement for yourself. either running away or to fight. great for Cyclone'ing in an enemy who tries to escape from you.

Runic Bulwark - the passive stacks for you and 1 other ally who has another Runic Bulwark, so having yourself one does not do you bad =D besides, it's stats are too good to pass up.

Iceborn Gauntlet - passive aoe dmg and slow is good. also gives armor and mana.

Team Work Tactics

Ganking

red is awesome prior to ur frozen mallet, always look for where gank is needed. watch for enemies pushing too far into lanes and make them learn their mistake =P if no one is too deep in and you know everyone is on map, then go farm their blue and/or red and if possible jungle ASAP before they can. always keep eye on ganks.

Team fights

INITIATOR!!! yes, WuKong should be in there first.

MAKE SURE TO CALL PRIORITY OF ENEMIES.

try to chase away the enemy ADC or APC so that your allies don't have to worry about them dealing tons of damage.

bear in mind that WuKong's Decoy won't do anything but the very minimal magic damage after 1.5 seconds, so what you want to be doing is move back and forth, stop, move, stop, move, stop at the front line with the tank (if you guys have one). The move-stop is to "fake" a Decoy, so your enemies will not know when you are going to a real Decoy.

Then when the time is right... Decoy to close in gap into them, and Nimbus Strike past their tank into the enemy you guys are aiming (highly suggest aiming their carry first) and Crushing Blow them and instantly Cyclone back to your allies, or if you have Warmog's Armor, stay and hit them! By this time, you will have caused a lot of chaos for the enemy team, and your allies will and i hope know that you are initiating, jump and join you with their abilities.

KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR HEALTH AND USE HEAL IF NEEDED, try to get your allies also.

after you have finished your Cyclone, or if you choose to stop prematurely, and if you have sufficient HP, and your cooldowns are done, use them to fight the stray enemies trying to run away.

Farming

Farming

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS go through the jungle creeps. if you have atleast 100 health weilding a Vampiric Scepter, you will make it through the jungle no problem.

-LANE PHASE, if you pushed minion wave, ask jungler if it is ok to take their golems or wolves, whichever one you are closest to as top lane. make sure your lane is pushed.

-LANE PHASE, if possible, ward enemy red or blue's bush. whichever one you are closest to as top lane so you will know when they are there.

Dragon or Baron

ALWAYS PINK WARD a little bit out from their entrance.

-ALWAYS keep an eye on your jungle and lanes, from the 10-20 min, you should be always have an empty jungle.

-Always go to where there's big wave of enemy creeps coming and go farm.

-Watch map for where enemies are and push accordingly. if they are all mia, you might want to back up to your tower or the jungle and wait til you see where 3/5 of the enemies are then go back out and push again.

-if needed, Crushing Blow the big siege creep because it gives at least 40 gold!

Summary

to wrap things up, there really is no actual way of building items, it's all in the hands of the beholder. Practice makes perfect is always what they say =D

LAST HITTING IS NUMBER ONE PRIORITY.

PLEASE TEST THIS OUT (at least 3X) BEFORE RATING

thanks to jhoijhoi for the assistance in guide tips
http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/making-a-guide-101506

AND THANK YOU ALL FOR READING