Wukong Build Guide by Afish123

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League of Legends Build Guide Author Afish123

Wukong: The Crafty Primate

Afish123 Last updated on April 20, 2013
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Build 1 (Cheat Sheet)

Champion Build: Wukong

Health 2415
Health Regen 16.8
Mana 1086
Mana Regen 18.6
Armor 90.69
Magic Resist 76.8
Dodge 0
Tenacity 0
Movement Speed 345
Gold Bonus 0
Attack Damage 275.15
Attack Speed 30.994
Crit Chance 10%S
Crit Damage 0%
Ability Power 30
Life Steal 12%
Spell Vamp 0
Armor Penetration 17.68
Magic Penetration 0
Cooldown Reduction 10%


Recommended Runes



Ability Sequence

2
3
5
8
10
Ability Key Q
4
14
15
17
18
Ability Key W
1
7
9
12
13
Ability Key E
6
11
16
Ability Key R

Masteries

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1/
Executioner
 
 

Offense: 21

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Honor Guard
 
 

Defense: 9

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Pickpocket
Intelligence
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nimble
 
 

Utility: 0

Guide Top

New to League of Legends?


Congratulations, you've found one of the best free online games there is. :D I'd suggest going to
leagueoflegends.com and looking through their Gameplay section under Game Info. The link to this is here: General League of Legends Gameplay

I also have built a section at the bottom of this guide on good and bad things to do in general gameplay, which goes beyond a basic explanation of the game into more strategic topics. It's called Basic LOLing Tips if you want to take a look at it.


Guide Top

And now for introductions.

Hello all, and welcome to a guide on a one of the most versatile champions in League of Legends, Wukong! My name is Afish123, and I've been playing League of Legends for a few years now. Throughout this guide you'll find tips, tricks, and a whole lotta' extra content that can help you learn how to play Wukong for the first time, get better at playing in general, and destroy your opponents! Also, if you could provide feedback and vote (Please do not trollvote), that would be much appreciated!


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Pros / Cons

Pros
  • Good damage output all game
  • Fairly tanky
  • Decoy is an amazing juke move
  • Great both in 1v1 combat and in teamfights
  • Good chaser
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Cons
  • Can't peel for friendly carries well
  • Decoy takes skill
    to use effectively

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Wukong is...

So what exactly does Wukong do? Before we can go into the specifics, we need to understand that overall, Wukong is...

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...an Attack Damage Caster



An AD Caster is a champion that can be described as the following:

Benefits greatly from building AD


Has abilities that deal a ton of physical damage


Does not rely on auto-attacks for damage


This is something that a most people seem to overlook. I've seen so many players take Wukong and go straight into a build like they would build on Xin Zhao or Tryndamere, loading up on attack speed and crit chance. While a DPS build is viable, in the end it doesn't work with Wukong as well as building him as an AD Caster does, simply because it takes away from the insane burst he has through his abilities.

But WAIT... Doesn't his E increase his attack speed?



Yeah, it does. So? His auto-attacks aren't useless just because that's not where most of his damage comes from. If you build AD, you're auto-attacks are going to hurt more than they would otherwise, regardless if you're going DPS or AD Caster. And since Wukong already has an attack speed buff built-in, what do you need to build more attack speed for? Trust me on this one, what you have already is more than enough.
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Skills Explanation



Stone Skin


This passive helps in surviving early game, teamfights, retreating, etc. Stone Skin gives Wukong 8 extra points in armor AND magic resist PER NEARBY ENEMY CHAMPION when its maxed out. This means that when you jump into a 5v5 teamfight late game, you have 40 extra armor and magic resist! This is what makes Wukong a viable champion, because he doesn't have the straight up attack power necessary to be able to go for the damage he needs without any thought for defense. But be careful, in early and mid game Stone Skin only gives 4 or 6 armor and magic resist per enemy champion! It's a passive that levels up with Wukong, so it's full potential is only available later on in the game. Also, Stone Skin only procs if you can see and target the enemy. For example, if a stealthed enemy Twitch walked up to you, you wouldn't get the extra armor and magic resist.



Crushing Blow


Here is where Wukong gets most of his burst. Crushing Blow powers up your next basic attack, dealing extra damage and rending the target's armor by 30% for 3 seconds. In those 3 seconds, your auto-attack, Nimbus Strike, and Cyclone all hurt a heck of a lot more than before. Also, Crushing Blow resets your auto-attack timer, making you able to do an auto-attack and a high-power armor reduction blow in less than the blink of an eye!



Decoy


Decoy is Wukong's ace-in-the-hole for survival. Got an enemy champion ganking you while you're pushing their turret? Not a problem, just pop Decoy just before they reach you and you'll enjoy 1.5 seconds of a clone of Wukong standing still while you run away stealthed! This move can save your life more than a few times, and it adds a layer of strategic depth to Wukong that isn't seen many other places. Sadly, your stealthy getaway can easily be spoiled by an irksome support that happened to have an Oracle's Elixir in use when you popped Decoy, so exercise caution around those tricky fellows.

Note: Decoy is a skill that takes time to learn. It's almost never as easy as pop it and run away laughing. It requires timing and an understanding of the move itself, plus knowing the situation and responding to it. I'll get more into how to use it properly in the next section of this guide, as well as a technique known as 'Stop Juking'.



Nimbus Strike


Nimbus Strike allows Wukong to farm, chase, and initiate very effectively. It makes you jump towards your target and creates 2 clones that strikes up to 2 other nearby enemies. What this means is that you don't have to target an enemy to hit them, just keep them in the range of your attack and a clone can hit them for you. Using this effectively can mean that you use those clones to harass in-lane and keep yourself further out of reach, hit that nearly-dead champion just barely out of range for you to directly target, or make a quick escape by targeting a minion behind you.



Cyclone


Wukong's ultimate Cyclone is Wukong's version of a Spin-To-Win. It deals damage per second, knocks up enemies, and gives you a speed boost that increases over it's duration. It's a great way to break up a team fight, begin your escape from within a group of enemies bent on killing you, or to save a teammate from death. It's a great multi-purpose ultimate that rounds out Wukong well!



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Decoy: In-Depth Usage

Okay, so we all now have an understanding of what Decoy does, and I'm betting that at some point we've lost a kill on Wukong because he used Decoy to get away where he otherwise wouldn't have. The question is, how do they manage to do it so well? Well, there are a few things you'll need to know that will improve your Decoy usage:

1)Using Decoy looks just like Wukong stopped moving to an enemy


This is probably one of the things I find most spectacular about Wukong. By just making Wukong stop, it will look like Wukong used Decoy... It's like Christmas come early :D

To use this rather devious fact involves a little trick called 'Stop Juking'. Let me set a situation up for you:
You're health is a little low, you're running away from a couple of enemies bent on your utter destruction for a minute or so, and you pass close by a brush. At this point, you press 'S' (it makes your character cancel all actions and stop right where they are). The enemies see you've stopped, assume that you've used Decoy to try and escape, see the brush, and automatically assume you've run into the brush to hide. They then rush into the brush in question, and NOW you use Decoy and head in the direction that puts the most distance between you and any potential threats.

Congratulations, you've just performed a 'Stop Juke' and have now escaped almost certain death! :D Occasionally enemies will attack you, but most players are 'smart' enough to think that it's the fake they're seeing and look for you elsewhere.

2)Most players assume the direction that the fake Wukong is facing is the direction that Wukong is actually going


This opens up a whole slew of new doors. For instance, if you're fighting in a brush, you can start running out of it, Decoy, and head back in. The enemy champion will most likely follow you out of the brush and continue away from the brush, making it easier for you to escape. Another thing you can do is Decoy and then switch directions, heading for a nearby brush. This forces enemies to guess which direction you went, possibly splitting them up and improving your chances.

3)Allows you to harass without fear of retaliation


In lane, Decoy allows you to jump in with Nimbus Strike and then stealth away, taking zero damage 9 times out of 10 while harassing them hard. This can give you the chance for an easy kill without fear of dying yourself.

4)It can block things that would otherwise hit you


The coolest thing is that when say Nidalee throws a Javelin Toss at you or Caitlyn uses her Ace in the Hole on you, instead of dodging it or calling for an ally to take it for you, you can Decoy and hide behind that instead! I had a game where my team and I got into a team fight in mid and I got hammered a bit. The enemy Caitlyn targeted me with her Ace in the Hole, and just before it hit me I stealthed away into one of the river bushes and it hit the fake Wukong, killing it. It saved me from death, and it can do the same for you.




Here's the Wukong Champion Spotlight where from 3:25 to 3:44 you will see a picture explanation of 'Stop Juking'. I also recommend the rest of the video, as it gives good detail on Wukong in general. Credits to Riot Games for this video.

Here are videos from a few Wukong players that had some amazing cat-and-mouse escapes and used Decoy like nuts. Credit goes to NubhyHC and Xstastix respectively.

At 0:35 to 0:40 in this video is an amazing dodge of Blitzcranks Rocket Grab using Decoy by making the skill shot hit the fake Wukong before it hit the actual Wukong.





Above all, the thing that can help you improve your skill with Decoy is imagination. It's one of those things that are simple in mechanic, but can be used in numerous ways, limited only by the strength of your imagination (and of course the 1.5 seconds Decoy is active). So take what you've learned, and try it out! It may take a little while, but you'll get the hang of it!


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Runes

Runes

Greater Mark of Attack Damage
9

Greater Seal of Armor
9

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
9

Greater Quintessence of Armor Penetration
3




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Preferred Rune


Greater Mark of Strength


Pure, unmodified AD works wonders with Wukong. Crushing Blow provides all the armor penetration we need early game in my opinion, so more AD helps to hammer the enemy well while their armor is down.

Other Runes


Greater Mark of Alacrity
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Greater Mark of Armor Pen.
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Preferred Rune


Greater Seal of Resilience


Early armor is a lifesaver every single time. Even if you do go up against mostly magic damage dealers, their auto-attacks still deal physical damage, plus magic damage usually doesn't really start hurting until mid game (Unless you're fighting LeBlanc, in which case I wonder why you ever thought to take mid lane with Wukong).

Other Runes


Greater Seal of Fortitude
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Greater Seal of Alacrity
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Preferred Rune


Greater Glyph of Shielding


As mentioned earlier, magic damage doesn't usually hurt a lot until mid to late game. With that in mind, I like to take the per lvl in MR, because I'll have more MR when I need the MR later in the game. Flat MR is still great though, and can easily be switched out due to personal preference.

Other Runes


Greater Glyph of Warding
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Greater Glyph of Focus
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Preferred Rune


Greater Quintessence of Armor Pen.


This rune and the Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage are really interchangable. It's up to you whether or not you want the extra AD or the extra Armor Pen.

Other Runes


Greater Quintessence of Strength
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Greater Quintessence of Fortitude
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Masteries

Defensive Masteries/Solo Lane Masteries

Masteries
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4/4
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2/2
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1/1
1/3
4/4
3/3
1/1

21/9/0


Mastery Details



Offensive Tree
Defensive Tree


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Summoner Spell Preferences

The Good



Flash

The tried and tested almost fail-safe mechanism of initiating, pursuing, and escaping!! Flash has been through buffs and nerfs, and has become one of the most consistently chosen summoner spells available. Naturally, Flash would be a great choice for Wukong.



Ignite

I almost never leave this one behind. Ignite can help you secure kills, dive more effectively, and with the "Summoner's Wrath" mastery point, it gives you a little more attack damage on cooldown! This stuff is great! :D



Teleport

Teleport is useful if you're going to have a hard lane. It helps you get back to the lane quickly when you recall, and later on it can be used to stop the enemy team from pushing a turret! It can get you into position for a gank by using Teleport on a ward or one of Teemo's Noxious Traps. All in all, a very impressive and useful summoner spell!



Exhaust

This is a great spell for most any AD champion. It reduces the movement speed and the attack damage of the targeted enemy, which can either guarantee you a kill or save you from getting destroyed yourself! I don't often take it, but it's easily a fair pick for Wukong.



Ghost

Ghost is something that I could see being useful on Wukong, but I don't believe it's necessary. Yes, I know that the speed you get is incredible, but I think that Wukong's juking abilities and Flash make him very good at escaping already, and adding Ghost into the mix is overkill when you could substitute it for a more offensively-angled spell. However, it's usefulness simply can't be ignored, and so it is still a top pick of mine.




Revive

I do hope you're not planning on dying every 7 or 8 minutes.



Clairvoyance

You don't have any abilities that have a long range, and neither are you a support or tank. You're better off with abilities that help you kill and leaving this spell to those who can't.



Clarity

Wukong doesn't really have mana problems unless you spam his abilities, which a Philosopher's Stone or a Sapphire Crystal should solve easily enough.



Heal

Yes, Heal can save you in a pinch. But so can Flash, Ghost, and Exhaust, and they're much more versatile. Plus, they get you OUT of the situation you've gotten into, whereas Heal just gives you a couple extra seconds to try and get out. The capability of baiting enemy champions has been brought to my attention by a fellow player, but in my opinion this tactic is only useful in early game play and Heal becomes fairly useless mid to late game when the enemy carry can burn through the minimal amount of health Heal can give you. To me, one or two kills that you might not even get early game isn't worth using Heal in place of another, more useful spell.



Smite

You're not jungling in this guide and you should know how to last hit. If you can't last hit I'd do something about it. ;)



Cleanse

In my opinion, Mercury's Treads should help you with those annoying CC's, making other things more beneficial than this.


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Skill Sequence

Option 1: Maxing Crushing Blow First


Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Order of Importance


> > >


You want to take Cyclone when it is available at levels 6, 11, and 16. Crushing Blow is maxed next for bigger burst damage, although I take Nimbus Strike at level 1 to give myself a dash and a good farming tool early. Decoy is maxed last since it is first and foremost an escape ability, but I put a point in it at either level 3 or level 4, depending on if I'm being harassed a lot and need my full kit early.





Option 2: Maxing Nimbus Strike First


Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Order of Importance


> > >


Fairly similar to the first sequence, except that you max Nimbus Strike first before Crushing Blow. Cyclone is still the most important to max, and Decoy is still the least important to max.


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Crushing Blow vs Nimbus Strike

Since this is one of the larger debates between Wukong players, let's take a look at the reasons behind this and I'll offer you my opinion.



Pros and Cons

Crushing Blow
  • Better harass
  • Armor reduction
  • Mana cost stays at 40 regardless of level
  • Less farm
  • Almost melee range
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Summary: Crushing Blow is my personal preference to max first. I like it because it allows me to be aggressive in lane and out-damage my opponent, mainly because of the massive burst and the armor reduction making the rest of my arsenal hit harder. However, it doesn't make farming any easier and its shorter range makes harassing tougher (it's range extends just a bit further than your normal auto-attacks). I would suggest that more experienced players max this first, if they prefer it.
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Nimbus Strike
  • Better farm
  • Good harass combo with Decoy
  • More base damage early game
  • Gap-closer
  • Harass combo burns through mana




Summary: When you're up against champions who either can take your harass (such as Malphite), or champions that can outdo you in harass or are ranged (such as Kennen or Yorick), then maxing Nimbus Strike first is the way to go. It gives you an easier time with farming, and once you get Decoy you'll be able to pop in and out of the minion waves without taking so much as a scratch. Just be careful of running out of too much mana when doing this. I would recommend beginners and those unfamiliar with Wukong max this first, as it is safer and doesn't require as much timing and positioning to use effectively.




It is really up to you to decide which one you want to max first. I prefer Crushing Blow, some people prefer Nimbus Strike, either way works and works well.


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Skill Combos

The Early Harass Combo



+ Auto Attack +

Wukong's bread-and-butter laning combo. Simply Nimbus Strike in, get in an auto-attack and then IMMEDIATELY hit Crushing Blow and whack 'em again. Then run away or chase them.





The Harass Combo



+ Auto Attack + +

The Early Harass Combo, now combined with an idiot-proof escape mechanism!





The Melee Combo



Auto Attack + + + Auto Attack

For when you end up right next to your enemy. Crushing Blow is used before Nimbus Strike so that the armor pen is applied beforehand, dealing more damage.





The Suprise-Bush-Whacker/Ganking Combo



+ + Auto Attack + + OPTIONAL


OR



+ + Auto Attack + + OPTIONAL

Good for surprise attacks from bushes. Use Nimbus Strike first if you're not close enough to use Crushing Blow, otherwise use Crushing Blow first.





The Initiate Combo



+ + Auto Attack + + OPTIONAL

For when your tank doesn't feel like initiating a teamfight. An even better way to surprise your enemies is using this from a bush, that way they can't see your Decoy and guess what's about to happen.


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Comprehensive Items: Core Items

Core Items


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The Black Cleaver




This is your armor-reducer, your cooldown reduction, and your first big damage increase all wrapped into one neat little package. The Black Cleaver is the only item in your build that gives you cooldown reduction (which is useful for Decoy), as well as giving you an excellent armor penetration passive, attack damage, and health!!!

Total Cost:

2865 gold

Stats:


+ 30 AD
+ 250 Health
+ 10% CDR
+ UNIQUE Passive: + 10 Armor Pen. Dealing physical damage to an enemy champion reduces their armor by 6.25% for 4 seconds. This effect stacks up to 4 times for a maximum of 25% armor penetration.
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Trinity Force




A common item for bursters, Trinity Force is Wukong's primary item. With boosts in both offensive and defensive stats, as well as a passive that can slow your opponent and increase your AD by 150% for one attack, this is a must-have, and should always be bought sometime in mid-game.

Total Cost:

4200 gold

Stats:


+ 30 AP
+ 30 AD
+ 30 Atk Spd
+ 15 Crit Chance
+ 250 Health
+ 250 Mana
+ 12 Movement Speed Multiplier
+ UNIQUE Passive: 25% chance on hit to slow the target by 35% for 2.5 seconds; on cast, increases your base attack damage by 150%. 2 second cooldown. Does not stack with Sheen or Lich's Bane.
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The Bloodthirster




Did someone say 'Unstoppable'? Oh yeah, that's because you're on a killing spree! The Bloodthirster is your endgame steroid, granting you massive lifesteal and attack damage to crush your opponents with. You could even pick it up in mid-game, if you so desired.

Total Cost:

3000 gold

Stats:


+ 70 AD
+ 14 Lifesteal
+ Passive: Gain an additional 1 attack damage and 0.2% lifesteal per kill. Maximum of +30 attack damage and +6% lifesteal. Bonuses are halved upon death.
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Comprehensive Items: Solo-Top Guide

Item Sequence

Cloth Armor
300

Health Potion
35

Health Potion
35

Sight Ward
75

Boots of Speed
350

Wriggle's Lantern
1600

Mercury's Treads
1200

The Black Cleaver
2865

Phage
1465

Sheen
1200

Vampiric Scepter
800

Trinity Force
3843

Frozen Mallet
3300

The Bloodthirster
3200




Early Game


Total Cost:

445 gold

Cloth Armor + 2 Health Potions + 1 Sight Ward




These items are my favorite way to start off with Wukong in top lane. Cloth Armor adds to your armor, you get a form of sustain from the Health Potions, and the Sight Ward is useful for preventing enemy ganks until you pick up your Wriggle's Lantern, which the Cloth Armor also builds into.

Other Items

Boots of Speed + 3 Health Potions


Grab Boots of Speed when you know you can deal with whatever damage the opposing top laner can deal to you, or if you want to simply keep up with them while killing them.




1st Major Item


Total Cost:

1650 gold

Boots of Speed + Wriggle's Lantern




If you didn't take Boots of Speed as one of your starting items, then now would be a good time to grab them so you at least don't fall quickly behind your opponents in speed. Your first big item should be Wriggle's Lantern, which with it's combination of armor, AD, and an active that gives you a free ward for the rest of the game, should keep you alive and thriving in lane.

Other Items

Spirit Visage


This is a good replacement for Wriggle's Lantern if you're facing a magic user like Vladimir. You will lose the ward and AD, plus you'll have to sell your Cloth Armor, but you easily make up for them with the health, extra regeneration, and cooldown reduction Spirit Visage gives you. It does cost about 800 more gold, however, so be sure to plan for that and play cautiously in lane.
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If you simply need a way to increase your overall regeneration and keep your income up, this is a good item to pick up alongside Wriggle's Lantern. It gives you all of the above, although it does need to be sold later, as it doesn't build into anything useful for Wukong. Keep in mind that you'll need more gold than normal if you're going to pick up this plus everything else in one recall.




2nd Major Item


Total Cost:

2287 gold

Mercury's Treads + The Brutalizer




Mercury's Treads are fantastic due to their magic resist, movement speed boost, and tenacity, which reduces the duration of CC on you. The Brutalizer builds into The Black Cleaver later, gives you some more AD, and makes waiting for Decoy to come off of cooldown a little easier with some CDR.

Other Items


Ruby Crystal


If you need the health component of The Black Cleaver before you need the damage/CDR component, then pick up a Ruby Crystal first. It's cheaper, and still helps you towards your first large damage boost.
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Phage


If you need a slow more than you need The Black Cleaver, then you should pick up Phage first. It gives you the slow that you may need, plus it also builds off of both Ruby Crystal and Long Sword, which are also both components of The Black Cleaver. This means that if you've built these items, but haven't exchanged them for The Brutalizer or The Black Cleaver yet, then it is ridiculously cheap to change your plan and get Phage first!
SPACE Ninja Tabi


Having trouble with the enemy solo top? Is he/she AD? Then you need Ninja Tabi! This will provide the defense and the speed you need to deal with your opponent. However, later on in the game you'll want to sell these for Mercury's Treads, the exception being when the enemy team is mostly or all AD with little CC.

Sapphire Crystal


If you're still burning through your mana too quickly, this is a great item to pick up. It will build into your Sheen later on and will provide you with a little extra wiggle room in terms of mana consumption.





3rd Major Item


Total Cost:

2675 gold

Phage + The Black Cleaver




Phage will buff up your health, give you a way to slow people, and more AD. However, The Black Cleaver is the real kicker here, because once you start to benefit from it's AD, armor reduction passive, and CDR, you will definitely become a lot more dangerous than before. This particular section of the build isn't very flexible, so hopefully you've made the right decisions earlier on and are doing well at this point!




4th Major Item


Total Cost:

5000 gold

Vampiric Scepter + Sheen + Trinity Force




Here is where it all starts coming together. I pick up Vampiric Scepter to bolster the lifesteal I already have with Wriggle's Lantern, and then I go for the Trinity Force, which will bring you up to your full mid-game damage and also bolster your overall effectiveness. It's up to you if you want to build a Sheen before buying Vampiric Scepter or if you want to just purchase Trinity Force in one go. As with the section before, there isn't much flexibility in this part of the build, except in extreme circumstances that call for a lot of improvisation in your build.




5th Major Item


Total Cost:

3250 gold

Frozen Mallet




Hang in there, you're almost done! This item bolsters both your health and adds a bit more AD to the mix, which helps you to survive against especially tough opponents.

Other Items

Hexdrinker


If the enemy mages are taking you out pretty consistently, then pick up Hexdrinker right after you get Trinity Force and before you build up your
Frozen Mallet. Its combination of AD, magic resist,and its special magic sheild will give your opponents a rough time. Also, it builds into Maw of Malmortius
later on.
SPACE Atma's Impaler


This item in combination with Warmog's Armor or Frozen Mallet is deadly. You gain attack
damage based on the amount of health you have, and it comes with armor and some crit chance! This is a great item to help you against a more AD-dependant team.

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Warmog's Armor


If you want more health than Frozen Mallet gives you, pick up Warmog's Armor instead! This item gives you 1000+ health and some ridiculous health regeneration to boot.




Final Item


Total Cost:

2550 gold

The Bloodthirster




Fellow summoner, I present to you a legend of our time. This item will increase your attack damage by a massive amount, and will give you lifesteal to boot. The only downside is that you need to stack it up in order to unlock its maximum potential.

Other Items


Maw of Malmortius


If you bought Hexdrinker to help cope with those pesky AP squishies, then upgrading to Maw of Malmortius is an excellent idea. Essentially, it's a better version of Hexdrinker with a bigger shield and better stats. This can replace either your Frozen Mallet or The Bloodthirster.


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Situational Items

AD Defensive Situational Items

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Ninja Tabi are a great idea if the enemy team has a troublesome Tryndamere or Xin Zhao. They give you 25 armor, and a passive that reduces all basic attacks by 10% (except for the tower of course). Don't worry, it's okay to laugh when they dive you after this ;)
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When you can't decide between tankiness or damage, you go Atma's Impaler. It has recently been nerfed, however, so that instead of having 2% of your max health added on as extra AD, you now get only 1.5% of the same effect. However, it still gives you +45 armor and +18% crit chance, so in my opinion its effectiveness has only decreased slightly.
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Solo. Top's. Bread. And. Butter!!!!! (Against AD champs of course ;)) A Wriggle's Lantern gives you a whopping 15 AD, 30 armor, 10 lifesteal, a 25% chance for a 500 damage magic burst on a minion, and a free ward every 3 minutes?! All for like 1600 gold?! And here I was thinking Riot was making us farm hard for great items...
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Magic Defensive Situational Items

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Greeeaaat stuffs, although it's hard to find a spot in the build for this. This wonderful item gives you 200 health, 10% cooldown reduction, 50 MR, and a passive that increases regeneration, healing, and draining effects by 20%. If you're really getting owned up top by an AP champion, then it's probably worth it to get it in place of Wriggle's Lantern. Otherwise, you should probably wait until after you snag Trinity Force.
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I see Wit's End as a good mixture of attack speed and magic resist. With 40% attack speed, 30 magic resist, a passive adding 42 bonus magic damage to each attack and one that increases magic resist by 5 per stack (with a max of 4 stacks, meaning a total of 20 extra magic resist), it's a good choice for some extra magic resist. However, this is more of an item aimed at giving DPSers more magic resist without sacrificing damage capabilities, and as this guide is focused on a bursty-assassin kind of Wukong, there are better choices. I shall leave the decision to you on grabbing this.
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Hexdrinker. Say it out loud. Just say it. Breathe in... Now say it. Sound cool? I think so. What's even cooler about it is the stats it gives, such as 25 AD, 30 magic resist, and a passive that automatically shields you from 250 magic damage if magic damage would leave you with less than 30% of your health. Now Karthus is going to be angry at you :D. And now that it builds into Maw of Malmortius, it's a perfect item to grab after or even before you finish Trinity Force!
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This is basically the new off-tank item that is so awesomely good against magic teams that it needed a new adjective to describe it. So, I came up with screamyumptious, for how scary it is for the other team and how scrumptious it is when Maw of Malmortius saves you from a Karthus ult :D. With it's 55 AD, 36 magic resist, a passive that gives you an AD point for every 2.5% of your health missing, and of course, a magic shield that blocks 400 magic damage when magic damage would leave you with less than 30% of your health. This item is destined to become a staple in many builds, just like my new word is destined to be added into Webster's Dictionary :D.
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Don't need any more resistances? Then picking up a Ravenous Hydra would be a good idea! The splash damage from this item comes into effect whenever you attack, meaning that both your abilities and auto-attacks deal splash damage!! Plus it has a sweet active ability to help with your nuking potential. I wouldn't pick this up unless you absolutely don't need the survivability however, because you really don't need this item to deal tons of damage.
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Did somebody say TANKY?! Well they'd be correct, if you had a Warmog's Armor on. Stepping up with 1000 health and a passive that regenerates 1.5% of your maximum health every 5 seconds, it's the perfect item to help you survive those troublesome teamfights!
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If you're looking to deal true damage to just about anyone, then Last Whisper is a must. With 35% armor pen and 40 AD, there's basically no amount of armor that you can't punch through with ease!
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Various Builds List

Standard Build





Slightly Tankier Standard/Non Trin-FM Users





Anti-Magic


(or )


Anti-Physical


(or )


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Gameplay Specifics

Early Game

  • The first few levels should be focused on farming and not presenting an easy target to the enemy. Once you hit level 3 or 4, which is when most Wukong players get their Decoy, then start harassing them as much as possible.
  • Be careful with your mana. Through early game a a bit of mid game you can run into mana issues if you spam your harass combo too much.
  • Don't rely too much on your Decoy for escapes early game. You don't have great speed until Mercury's Treads rolls around, and if you're too far extended it'll be hard to run away effectively.
  • Cyclone is a great way to get early kills on squishy champs, especially if you hit them with Crushing Blow beforehand.
  • You can brush juke really well if you end up extended by exiting the brush, Decoying back in, and Nimbus Strikeing to their pushed minion wave.
  • Don't forget you can Nimbus Strike out of range with the enemies' minions, but only if they're on your escape route.
  • Don't be afraid to be aggressive early game.



Mid Game

  • First off, mid game starts when the first tower is destroyed. This usually happens around 15 to 20 minutes, though I've seen it take longer.
  • The main thing to note about the shift from early game to mid game is that the team that starts grouping up first is more likely to gain an advantage, even if one of their turrets was the first to go. Here's why: Most players will still be in lanes where both towers are still up. Although they know that a tower has gone down, they still don't see it for 95% of the time, because they're focusing on the lane that they're in. This makes the transition from early game to mid game harder, which is definitely something to exploit.
  • Teamfights are going to start breaking out all over the place, so be in them!!!
  • By this time you should have The Black Cleaver at the very least, unless you haven't been doing so great. With its added survivability and damage, you can pull off amazing ganks and escapes, while being very disruptive and devastating to the enemy team.
  • Teamfights are, ironically, going to improve your survivability because of Stone Skin.



Late Game

  • Stick to teamfights and get good team coordination going. One ace could win a game at this point.
  • Do NOT go anywhere alone anymore.
  • Keep farming in the moments between teamfights, unless you have your entire build.
  • Have fun! :D


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Teamfighting



Primary Roles

Assassin, Bruiser

Wukong's kit is all about offense. His combination of team disruption, a gap closer, a clutch stealth ability, and high burst absolutely begs you to dive straight through the enemy team's defenses and take out the enemy carries with a Crushing Blow to the face. His team defense and peeling ability is lackluster, as his only CC comes on a high cooldown in Cyclone, but Wukong makes up for it easily in his damage output.

Secondary Roles

Initiator

Wukong's ultimate ability allows him to jump into the middle of a tightly-grouped team and disrupt the enemy long enough for his allies to easily jump into a fight. However, when playing with good initiator tanks such as Malphite or Rammus, you should wait for them to go in and then follow-up with Cyclone, as you do not want to be the enemy team's primary target.




Primary Target

ADC/APC

If there is an enemy carry in a teamfight, then you should be all over them, every time. Wukong's kit should be able to easily pull you through a good majority of the enemy team's defense right to their precious carries. After that, your burst potential is usually enough to take them down with no trouble. Oh, and...

ALWAYS FOCUS THE ADC FIRST!!!


Why? Because the ADC is the primary damage dealer on most every team. Once you take out the majority of their sustained damage from a teamfight, the odds of your team winning are greatly increased.




Post Teamfight

Chaser, Pusher

After the outcome of a teamfight has been decided, Wukong switches roles a little bit. Now freed from having to target one of the carries, Nimbus Strike and Crushing Blow make quick work of most every champion. Also, because Wukong builds AD and has a built-in attack speed buff, he is an exceptional team and split-pusher.


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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Isn't this a little too much of a glass cannon kind of build for Wukong?


It's helpful to remember that Stone Skin allows Wukong to build what seems like a glass cannon build without really being a glass cannon. Yes, it's full potential is in 5v5 teamfights, but that's when you need the resistances the most anyhow. If you do need more armor or MR at any point, there are some excellent items I've outlined in the Situational Items section.




Doesn't Nimbus Strike deal more damage than Crushing Blow overall?


While Nimbus Strike does more immediate damage early game than Crushing Blow, it's mana cost also increases with level, while Crushing Blow's mana cost stays at 40 the entire game. This means that at max level, Crushing Blow deals 150 damage/40 mana used to cast Crushing Blow, which equals 3.75 damage per mana point used to cast. On the other hand, Nimbus Strike deals 240 damage/65 mana used to cast Nimbus Strike, which equals 3.69 damage per mana point used to cast. This means that if you used all of your mana harassing your opponent with either Crushing Blow or Nimbus Strike, Crushing Blow would do the most damage. And these numbers don't even include the extra damage you would receive from your AD, of which Crushing Blow scales with better than Nimbus Strike ( Crushing Blow has a 1.1:1 damage to AD ratio, while Nimbus Strike has a .8:1 damage to AD ratio).




Got a question? Post on the discussion page or pm me, and I'll get back to you with a response as soon as I can.


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Basic LOLing Tips

If you haven't had much experience with League of Legends in general, I'd suggest you learn a little bit about how to play and how to play well. I cannot count the number of times I've lost a game because my team or a couple people on my team basically lose the game for us because of feeding or running from teamfights or not doing their job. Yes, it happens to all of us some times, but the difference between a good player and a bad player is how often you make those mistakes and how bad the mistakes you make are, as well as your overall attitude. I'm going to assume that you know the map layout and basic LOL abbreviations like MIA and OOM that all players should know, so here's a couple basic tips on what to do and not to do:

The Good:


-Pushing Turrets

One of the most fundamental aspects of the game is knowing when to push turrets and when not to push turrets. A team that pushes more turrets than the other team but gets less kills is, in my opinion, a better team, because they recognize that the eventual goal of the game is the Nexus, not to get kills. There have been countless teams I've played on that got an amazing number of kills early game, but they never capitalized on the fact that the turret was not being guarded by anyone, and all of a sudden mid-game rolls around and the other team has pushed so much further than theirs has. Then people start wondering how they lost once the game's over.

-Leashing for Junglers

The Short Version: Leashing makes you win games. Long Version: Leashing is one of the best things you could do for a jungler, hands down. Allowing your jungler to take less hits at a key jungle camp and also weakening the minion for your jungler provides a speedier jungle that will leave your jungler with more health, allowing him to provide earlier ganks, get earlier wards on Baron and Dragon (not to mention anti-counter jungling wards), and allow him to keep up with the rest of the team easily. There are a few junglers, like Shaco or Maokai, that leashing actually is a detriment to them ( Shaco can easily take out Blue Buff with his boxes, leaving him with almost full health to clear the rest of the jungle), but if the jungler asks for a leash (and even if he doesn't), leash it!

-Team Fights

Mid to late game almost all fights are going to end up as team fights. The most important thing to remember in team fights is that each team member has a certain job and should stick to it. The tank is supposed to initiate and peel for their allies, the carries are supposed to dish out damage like there's no tomorrow, the support is supposed to keep everyone alive, etc.. And don't split up, it's called a TEAM fight for a reason ;)

-Focusing

If your team targets multiple enemies at once, team fights become a bunch of 1v1 fights played out right next to each other. That's not good, especially if the other team decides to all target your carries and you're left with no damage. Focusing is all about taking out the enemy team one person at a time, with everybody focusing on taking out the same person at the same time.

-Humility

So many people who play League of Legends (and more besides) need to learn humility. No, you are not the biggest and baddest Loler out there, you are not the coolest thing since Michael Jackson, you could never be 'cool' no matter how low you hang your pants or how loudly you swear, and your teammates won't like you unless you learn to let some things go, say sorry when it's your fault, and focus on the game.

-Stalling a Lane/Knowing How to Not Push

Did you know that in lane there's a way to farm well and relatively safely at the same time? This 'farming zone', as I like to call it, is located just in front of your turret, outside of the turret's range but not far away from it either. Here you can find a good picture of where the farming zone is located.

So why is this such a good spot to farm? Well, with your turret being so close you can run back to avoid any sort of hard harass, and it's very unlikely that you will get caught in a gank. Also, it forces the enemy team to stick their necks out a bit if they want to get farm and experience, making it a lot easier to gank them or deny them farm. You should always try to get the lane to push to right outside of your tower, then hold it there. It's difficult and it takes practice, but it's so worth it.

The Bad:


-Diving In Alone

Out of anything a bad player does, this one annoys me the most. Diving in alone consists of any sort of movement, whether aggressively diving in 1v5 to accidentally walking into range of enemies in laning phase, that causes you to overextend and puts you in greater danger than if you were with a teammate. Remember this: You are NOT the team. No matter how fed you are, how good you are, etc., you're being foolish and feeding if you try to take on the entire team alone.

-Feeding

Feeding is one of the worst things that a player could possibly do in a game (usually because it implies that the player is diving in alone, backdooring, not focusing well, or is taking too many risky chances, or a combination of some things and therefore means the player is doing multiple bad things at once). When you feed, you practically give the enemy team more gold, meaning they get their builds/levels faster and are able to get more and more kills, thereby getting more and more fed until that team has become a machine of death and destruction. Yes, getting kills is important, but you staying alive and denying the enemy team gold is so much more vital.

-Backdooring

Some people consider this a viable option, especially if you have a Sivir or Master Yi on your team, but in my opinion it's not worth it. There's a good chance you'll get ganked and killed, and if there's a teamfight your team will be down a man, which can make a huge difference in the outcome of that fight and possibly the match.

-Insta-Locking

This basically tells me no matter how this person does in game that they are selfish, probably bad, and won't always cooperate with the team. Therefore I already assume the insta-locker will be the weak link, and be more judgemental towards them even though I shouldn't be.

-Selfishness

This is one of those guys we've all played with before. He's the first one to run away from a fight that's going badly, last one to help another champion in need, and whines loudly when someone else gets a kill they could've gotten. I don't know about you guys, but I consider League of Legends a TEAM game. Therefore, you need to work together as a TEAM, and not be hogging everything you can possibly get. Let your team get the things they need to do well, and you're team will able to do more for you and themselves in return.

-Raging

When you rage, you're really not doing anything but making everyone else mad and throwing off their game psychologically. Okay, so maybe that Twisted Fate ulted in at the COMPLETELY wrong time, or maybe that Caitlyn can't last hit for ****. But guess what? Yelling at them doesn't HELP them do better; in fact it makes them start yelling at you in return most times, resulting in a time-consuming chat war that takes your focus off the game and probably seals your defeat. In the end, you're making a fool of yourself and losing the game, and for what? What could you possibly have to gain from rage?

-Pushing Too Far

If you consistently find yourself getting ganked by multiple people, or if you always have a long run back to your turret while you're getting chased, you probably are guilty of this. What I mean when I say you push too far is that you're farming so much and pushing your lane so hard that you end up overextending and putting yourself in a position to be ganked or to be chased and killed. This leads to feeding, and in most cases a loss on your record. The best way to make sure that you aren't pushing to far is to check your map consistently. If you see that you're farther away from your turret than you are an enemy turret, then either you're chasing an enemy, are with your team and it's okay, or overextending, and if you're overextending then you need to fix it and fall back a bit.

But this means I can't farm!!!

Yes, yes it does, especially if you call sitting still in the middle of a lane and and auto-attacking farming. You can still farm and not push, but you need to learn how to last hit well in order to do so. And even if then the minion wave is more frequently out of reach than not, don't freak out. Go gank a lane, grab a jungle camp (with your jungler's permission), or just sit there and wait, because all of these options are better than going out and getting killed because you wanted to farm. Long story short, farm isn't worth dying for. Ever.


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Credit

I give credit and my thanks to:
- UtimatePr0, for making the first Wukong guide I used and making me a fan of Wukong
- jhoijhoi, for making an awesome how to build a guide guide, whose link can be found here:
http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/making-a-guide-101506
- NubhyHC and Xstastix, for the great Wukong juke videos from Youtube
- RiotGames, for making Wukong and the Wukong Champion Spotlight


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Updates

1-27-12
Just started the guide! Got the newbie section done, the intro, the lore is in here, the Loling Tips is pretty much finished, and all the items, runes, etc. are up. Hoping to work on those masteries soon!
1-30-12
Got the pros and cons done, and just finished the masteries!
2-02-12
Runes are finished!
2-04-12
Skill Explanation is complete! Came back later today and did an extra bit on the move Decoy.
2-08-12
Started on the Comprehensive Items section. Only got early and mid game done.
2-09-12
Just realized I never put a summoner spell explanation in. Completed it today!
2-12-12
Nearly done with the Comprehensive Items section!
2-19-12
Just gone through the past couple days and fixed a few things here and there. Haven't had time to write the gameplay section down.
3-06-12
Made the Summoner Spell section look cooler and added late game options in the Comprehensive Items section.
3-28-12
Updated and added some stuff to the Comprehensive Items Section. Comprehensive Items are now basically finished.
3-29-12
This guide is finished enough to take out the disclaimer at the beginning! :D
4-13-12
Added a few extra do's and don'ts in the Basic LOLing Tips section.
4-18-12
Started working on a Gameplay Specifics section. Looking to make a Skill Combo section and thinking about adding a Hardest Solo Tops section.
4-19-12
Finished Gameplay Specifics, but probably will add more as I think of them.
4-25-12
Editing a few things, putting in Situational Items as a section. Also editing the Comprehensive Items section a bit, to make it easier to read.
6-14-12
Masteries got a slight overhaul and I added in an optional mastery page. Runes and Comprehensive Items are getting revamped soon.
6-16-12
Added a chapter concerning the debate between maxing Crushing Blow or Nimbus Strike first, and added Skill Sequence as a chapter.
7-01-12
Went through and corrected a few things incorrect in my guide. Also added a few more details to various sections.
7-17-12
Added my damage calculations for Crushing Blow and Nimbus Strike to the Frequently Asked Questions section.
7-19-12
Changed my preference towards Masteries and edited that one a bit. Then went into the Runes, made them look a lot nicer, and added alternative rune choices.
7-20-12
The Comprehensive Items section is going to be undergoing a complete remake in the next couple weeks or so. I'll be rethinking parts of my item build and make changes accordingly. Be patient please, I don't always have a lot of time to spend on this guide.
7-21-12
Split the Comprehensive Items section into 3 sections and added a skill sequence for maxing Nimbus Strike first.
7-22-12
The Solo Top section is done!
8-15-12
The Bottom Lane section is done!
12-16-12
Took a ton of time off working on my guide, but since the new patch is up I finally came back and began reworking it. First, I got rid of the bottom lane component of this guide, because Wukong just doesn't go bottom enough, reworked the masteries, and redid the items!! Hoping to add a Skill Combo section soon and do some touch-ups.
1-4-13
Updated the Situation Items section a bit. Still thinking of the Skill Combo section, and a top lane matchup section.
4-8-13
Added a Teamfighting section.
4-12-13
Added the 'Wukong is...' section after being reminded that some people don't get the whole 'AD Caster' classification thing.