Olaf is my favorite champion, he is challenging but satisfying to win with because of the skill required to play him.

Olaf is the ultimate pursuit champion. Learning to pick up your axes and landing them are equally important when playing as Olaf. Most other guides will tell you to build Olaf with Attack speed, berserker grieves, phantom dancers etc. But CDR and Damage is the way to go with Olaf NOT ATTACK SPEED you get plenty from your passive.
Thanks to Olafs passive you never need to build attack speed. And most enemies will try to avoid dueling you 1 v 1. So instead you need to focus on Chasing. CDR, Health and Damage is the way to go when building Olaf.


Ghost is key on Olaf. By design Olaf is very powerful. He is amazing when it comes to 1 v 1 dueling so naturally most champions will run from you in fear. Even if Olaf falls behind he can easily get back in the game because he has very high natural damage. This is why most champs will run from Olaf making Ghost vital.


Olaf does not have the biggest burst the way some Assasins or AP carrys do, but Olaf is tanky and with ignite you can secure those kills that you normally couldn't.


Flash some may take this to survive ganks but I just don't like it on this champion. Ghost compliments Ragnorok, it gives you 8 seconds of great speed with 6 seconds of CC immunity your ulti which makes you a Train of destruction.

Ignite and Ghost on Olaf with his ultimate Ragnarok pretty much guarantees a kill.

Warmogs is Olafs favorite Item. Believe it or not Frozen Mallet is one item Olaf does not need. Learning to Chain your Q makes Mallets passive useless. Once you master throwing and picking up those axes you won't need Frozen Mallet. PLUS not only does Olaf need HP, he needs HP regen desperately. Using his E to harass and farm will mean before a fight starts you may be 500 HP short! With Mogs extreme HP regen it will mitigate this problem.

If you opt for the Mallet instead of Mogs you will notice your sustain to be terrible.

Another popular build is Mallet+mogs this is great mid game build but once you reach the late game you will be rather squishy if you didn't build armor or MR right after. And if you opt to build Mogs+Mallet+Armor you will lack raw damage that black cleaver or Ravenous Hydra would provide which means you will be ignored during team fights. So you have to choose between Full tank or Off tank. And really if the enemy team is Ignoring Olaf during team fights you are not getting the full benefit out of your Ultimate Ragnorok which is one of the best tools in the game to eliminate enemy adc and apc.


Getting a black cleaver early Will allow you to eat squishy champs in just 3-4 hits! It provides HP, damage and CDR for chasing. Ghost blade is another great choice and its active works great with Ragnarok.


Frozen heart is amazing on Olaf. Not only does it give tons of Armor it gives Extra Mana and 20% CDR which is amazing for olaf. He tends to run out of Mana quickly and more CDR means more damage out put and greater chasing ability with your Q coming off Cool down even faster. Also why build Attack speed on Olaf when you can simply slow down the entire enemy teams attack speed? JAX, Vaynes, Xin Zhaos will wonder why they are doing no damage!

For Lanning try to max this first. Olaf can build straight tanky early on because of his E. 340 true damage early in the game while being tanky is insanely good for scaring enemy laners.

Max Q second, Again most laners wont be able to stand up to your true Damage E, landing Q for its slow is necessary to land your E.

As for Masteries I like 9/21 defense masteries. Olaf is not an assasin type champ. He has no gap closers. Which makes him less mobile than many other champs. Which means making him tanky is important. Some times you will get into very bad fights but because your tanky you can just walk right out of those fights.

Movement speed Quints I think is a must on Olaf. Again he is a pursuit type champ getting to your prey as fast as you can is important when playing Olaf. Movement speed also allows you to get away from ganks easier as well.

PROS
Great Dueling damage
No need to build Attack speed thanks to Passive
Can build Tanky yet does insane damage
Immune to CC with Ulty
Low cool down E-Q combo if you pick up your Axe
Only needs 1-2 Damage items to become very dangerous
Great jungling speed
Few champs with True Damage skill
Brolaf Skin

CONS
Not very Mobile
No gap closers
Q is very hard to master
Picking up Q annoying some times
E consumes HP
Can have mana problems
Ganks are average without Ghost