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Heimerdinger Build Guide by SanyGame

Middle [13.17] In-Depth Heimerdinger Guide [Mid/Top/Bot/Support]

Middle [13.17] In-Depth Heimerdinger Guide [Mid/Top/Bot/Support]

Updated on September 10, 2023
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League of Legends Build Guide Author SanyGame Build Guide By SanyGame 92 39 192,197 Views 10 Comments
92 39 192,197 Views 10 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author SanyGame Heimerdinger Build Guide By SanyGame Updated on September 10, 2023
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Heimerdinger
    MID
  • LoL Champion: Heimerdinger
    TOP
  • LoL Champion: Heimerdinger
    BOT
  • LoL Champion: Heimerdinger
    SUPPORT

Runes: BEST RUNE PAGE // POKE

1 2 3 4
Sorcery
Arcane Comet
Manaflow Band
Absolute Focus
Gathering Storm

Inspiration
Magical Footwear
Biscuit Delivery
Bonus:

+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+8 Magic Resist

Spells:

1 2 3 4
AGGRESSIVE
LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Ignite

Ignite

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Champion Build Guide

[13.17] In-Depth Heimerdinger Guide [Mid/Top/Bot/Support]

By SanyGame

Pros

→ Has low ban/pick rate
→ Can be played in all roles, even jungle as off-meta fun pick.
→ Punishes roaming and controls objectives effectively.
→ Capable of 1v2, surprises enemy junglers.
→ Deals a LOT of damage, often highest in the game.
→ Pokes and zones enemies
→ Has AOE damage and CC in team fights.

Cons

→ Extremely squishy and immobile
→ Bad if behind, hard to get back into the game
→ Waveclear is strong and can make it hard to freeze or slowpush lanes.
→ Hard to carry 1v9
→ Damage drops significantly if all H-28G Evolution Turret are destroyed.
→ Vulnerable after missing CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade

PASSIVE
ABILITY
Hextech Affinity (Passive): Heimerdinger recieves a 20% bonus to his movement speed when he is near an allied Turret , H-28G Evolution Turret or H-28Q Apex Turret that he has deployed.

This is an incredibly powerful effect. The 20% bonus movement speed allows Heimerdinger to easily kite most skill shots in the game, making him a difficult target to kill in team fights. Additionally, this ability can be utilized for both defense and offense, as placing turrets in front of you can aid in chasing down enemies.


Q
H-28G Evolution Turret (Q): Heimerdinger can store and place up to 3 turrets. This is the core of his kit, as everything revolves around it.

Most of this applies to H-28Q Apex Turret as well.
  • The stats of H-28G Evolution Turret are determined upon deployment and don't update with stat changes (such as upgrading the ability or using Conqueror). It is important to keep the turrets if you want to level them up. However, any temporary effects on the turrets, for example from runes or items, will remain even after they expire. If Heimerdinger dies and his turrets are still active, they will revert to their base stats after respawning, so it's better to purchase items on death screen.
  • When you deploy a 4th turret, the inactive turret will be destroyed. If there are no inactive turrets, the oldest active turret will be destroyed.
  • When an enemy is hit by CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade, Laser Beams will charge at 100% per hit. It also charges up by 20% per Hextech Micro-Rockets missile (so if you hit with all missiles it will be 100% charge). If the turret is fully charged, its next attack will deal increased damage, have a larger area of effect, and will pierce through enemies. Additionally, the laser beam attack counts as an area of effect for certain runes and effects, while regular attacks from the turrets are considered single-target.
  • H-28G Evolution Turret will prioritize enemies you last auto-attacked or hit with abilities, so if enemies are within range of the turret, be sure to auto-attack them. I won't recommend doing so pre-level 3, as you can't all-in enemies and you'll miss some minions.
  • Turret will prioritize your H-28G Evolution Turrets over minions.
  • It's important to not deploy all of your turrets immediately after they become available. Instead, try to save them for comboing with other abilities and bursting down enemies, especially if you're playing against someone who can easily destroy them. Additionally, don't constantly push the lane. Sometimes it's beneficial to keep the turrets and freeze the lane, especially in difficult matchups, so your jungler can gank you.
  • Even when deactivated, Heimerdinger's turrets provide vision. This can be useful when playing on the bottom or top lane by placing anti-invasion turrets at the start of the game.
  • It's important to note that Omnivamp is only 33% effective on H-28G Evolution Turret, so building this stat on Heimerdinger is not very useful.
  • The health of the turrets scale with Heimerdinger's AP, and the scaling increases as he levels up.
  • The range of the laser beam attack is significantly longer than the normal attack range of the H-28G Evolution Turret.


W
Hextech Micro-Rockets (W): Heimerdinger launches 5 rockets that converge on the cursor and then spread out. The first missile deals 60% of the total damage, while the next 4 missiles each deal 10% of the total damage.
  • Since most of the damage comes from the first missile, it's often more effective to spread out the missiles to increase the chances of hitting at least one of them. It's better to land one missile and deal 60% damage than to miss all of them and deal no damage at all.

  • If you kill a minion or champion with Hextech Micro-Rockets, the remaining missiles will continue to fly. This can be used to trade effectively while farming.
    • Additionally, Hextech Micro-Rockets can be used to easily farm large waves of minions by last-hitting multiple minions with a single use of the ability.
  • It can be very useful for checking bushes for enemies. Spread out the missiles to cover a wide area for maximum visibility.


E
CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade (E): Heimerdinger throws a grenade that stuns enemies at the center of impact and slows those in the surrounding area. If you hit your target, the laser beams of your turrets will be fully charged.
It's important to note that this ability is crucial for defense, as missing it can leave you vulnerable to enemy all-ins under your turrets. Use it strategically and aim carefully.
  • CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade can be difficult to land, so having teammates with CC can greatly increase your chances of hitting the target. Also, the closer you are to the target, the less time it will took for the grenade to land, making it easier to stun enemies who are close enough. Using the skill on top of yourself will result in an almost instant hit.
  • CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade provides a brief period of vision in the area where it lands, making it useful for checking important objectives. However, it's not recommended to check bushes with it due to its long cooldown.


R
UPGRADE!!! (R): Heimerdinger enhances the next usage of any of his basic abilities.
  • Damage increases with your ultimate level, not the ability level.
  • You can recast your ultimate after 3 seconds to cancel it.


RQ
H-28Q Apex Turret (RQ): Upgrades H-28G Evolution Turret to H-28Q Apex Turret, which deals splash damage and slows enemies. This is mostly a defensive option.
  • H-28Q Apex Turret can be used to keep enemies away from important objectives by slowing them down and dealing significant damage if ignored.
  • In case you are in danger and about to be crowd-controlled, placing an empowered turret can be helpful as it will deal damage to the enemies and you can easily kill them once the crowd control effect wears off if you survive the initial stun.
  • H-28Q Apex Turret is significantly more durable than the H-28G Evolution Turret, which makes it ideal for taking objectives solo in the mid-late game. By placing it first and allowing it to tank damage, you can take objectives much more easily.
  • It can be used even if you don't have any turret stacks, so if your other abilities are on cooldown and you need to deal some damage, this ability can be used as an alternative.


RW
Hextech Rocket Swarm (RW): Upgrades Hextech Micro-Rockets to Hextech Rocket Swarm, which fires four missile bursts instead of one. This is a mostly single-target/aggressive option.


RE
CH-3X Lightning Grenade (RE): Upgrades CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade to CH-3X Lightning Grenade, which bounces three times and has a larger area of impact. This ability is particularly effective in team fights, as well as 1v2 and 1v3 scenarios.

Starter Items


Purchasing Health Potions is pretty mandatory as it allows you to stay in lane longer. If you have a health advantage, you can force the enemy to overextend and lose CS, tower plates, teleport, or prio, which can give you a significant advantage in the game.

Refillable Potion is more effective against poke champions than Health Potions, but it is not useful against champions who cannot poke you in lane. When playing against easy, passive matchups, or after an early back, you may consider buying Refillable Potion along with Dark Seal instead of Health Potions.

Doran's Ring is one of the best starting items in almost any situation, making it your choice in 90% of matches. By purchasing Doran's Ring, you will get a nice bonus damage, mana sustain, easier farming, and extra survivability (HP) that will help you during the early game.

Sometimes, usually in easy or passive matchups, you can buy an Amplifying Tome as a starting item, which allows you to get Lost Chapter quite quickly, especially if you have Teleport and/or Future's Market.



Dark Seal is similar to Doran's Ring, but has slightly lower stats, no mana sustain and no bonus minion damage. However, if you manage to fully stack it, it can become a very powerful item by crafting Mejai's Soulstealer later, which is one of the strongest AP items. It synergizes well with Rabadon's Deathcap's passive, giving you even more AP and snowballing you real hard. Additionally, if you have at least 10 stacks, it gives you extra movement speed, making it easier for you to get stacks and stay alive.
Take Dark Seal as a starter item only on easy lanes where you can snowball. You can also buy it for stats if you recalled early and have no gold for other items, as it grants good stats even with no stacks. If you managed to fully stack Dark Seal (>7 stacks) and snowballed, it's a pretty good idea Mejai's Soulstealer, only make sure you won't lost the stacks, as Heimerdinger is a type of champion that usually die a lot.

Spellthief's Edge is the best support item for Heimerdinger. You can easily stack it by constantly harrasing and poking enemies using H-28G Evolution Turret and Hextech Micro-Rockets. It grants more AP than Relic Shield and suits Heimerdinger more with his poke playstyle.

Boots


Sorcerer's Shoes are a great item for Heimerdinger because they provide magic penetration, which increases the damage of all of his abilities. Ionian Boots of Lucidity are not as good of a choice because the Ability Haste they provide does not offer as much benefit as the magic penetration from Sorcerer's Shoes. Additionally, Heimerdinger's abilities have relatively short cooldowns already, so the Ability Haste from them may not be as useful.

Mythic Items


Liandry's Anguish is a core item for Heimerdinger. It is effective for poking enemies due to the constant refreshing of its duration by H-28G Evolution Turret. Additionally, it can easily be applied with wide and high ranged Hextech Micro-Rockets in lane and with the H-28Q Apex Turret or CH-3X Lightning Grenade in team fights. It is especially effective against tanky team compositions as it deals HP% damage and has extra damage against enemies with higher maximum HP. Liandry's Anguish also provides some Ability Haste, which increases the uptime of your abilities and improves your overall strength. It's a great choice in all situations, even against a team of squishy enemies, so if you don't know what to buy, you can never go wrong with this one.

Luden's Tempest is a great item choice against squishy teams. When paired with Sorcerer's Shoes, Rabadon's Deathcap and Shadowflame, it allows you to one-shot squishy enemies with ease. In addition, the passive ability provides easier waveclear and cheap damage, although it's worse compared to other mythics.

Situational


Crown of the Shattered Queen is a situational item for Heimerdinger, as he focuses more on dealing damage than playing defensively. It can be effective against a big number of burst champions in the enemy team, such as Nocturne, Zed, Akali, and others. Additionally, this item allows you to free up a slot for more damage-focused from items such as Zhonya's Hourglass or Banshee's Veil. Its mythic passive pairs well with Hextech Affinity, providing extra movement speed for kiting enemies and additional AP. However, it's not recommended against high-range champions such as Viktor and Xerath, as they can easily break your shield from far away, making the passive useless. In most situations, Liandry's Anguish or Luden's Tempest are better options for Heimerdinger.

Everfrost is a pretty niche choice. Heimerdinger only has single CC ability, which is pretty difficult to land, but this item solves this problem, as it provides an easy to land stun, making it easier to hit with CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade. This item is particularly effective against highly mobile champions with many dashes, such as Yasuo, Irelia, and Akali, if you have a trouble playing against them. It can also be beneficial when you are behind in the game, as it provides some utility for your team and cheaper than other mythics.

Legendary Items


Rabadon's Deathcap is a core item for Heimerdinger. It's extremely effective for all mage champions, and he is no exception. It provides a huge increase in damage and objective control, making it your first power spike item. Try to purchase it as your second item. As a Heimerdinger, you mainly need raw AP. Sometimes it's better to delay it to a third item, and instead buy Void Staff and other situational items. However, I don't recommend delaying it to a fourth or further item unless your team is already carrying and you need to build for peeling and more utility.

Void Staff is a great item in most situations, as it's very rare for players to not buy Magic Resistances at all. Even in the worst case, most squishes still have 50-60 Magic Resistances to late game, which gives you around 20 magic penetration against them, but at the same time removes any risk of them suddenly building defensive items and reducing your damage output, compared to Shadowflame that is weaker in that case.

Shadowflame is a pretty powerful item against squishies that can provide great value for Heimerdinger, but it's not always the best choice for every situation. It gives you 100 AP, 10-20 magic penetration and 200 health. I would recommend building it after Luden's Tempest and Rabadon's Deathcap, as this will allow you to take off half the HP of squishy enemies with Hextech Micro-Rockets. I'm not even talking about abilities empowered with UPGRADE!!! as they will easily one-shot them. It will be worse than Void Staff vs Magic Resistances, but you can buy both of them as they synergize well because percentage penetration is applied before flat penetration.


Rylai's Crystal Scepter is good for Heimerdinger when facing immobile, short-range melee champions like Garen or Darius and if you have enough damage output and just need some utility. Its passive slows down enemies hit by Heimerdinger's abilities, making it easier to kite them and land CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade while also running away. When paired with Liandry's Anguish, the enemy will take increased damage while slowed, allowing Heimerdinger's H-28G Evolution Turrets to melt them. This item is pretty important when playing as a Heimerdinger support, but if you're good enough, I would never recommend you rush it first like most players do, as it's more of a crutch for bad players who can't hit skillshots. On other roles, it's best to buy as 5th or 6th item.

Zhonya's Hourglass is a situationally strong item on Heimerdinger, as well as other champions that can deal significant damage while in Stasis. Heimerdinger is a fragile and vulnerable champion, so the extra Armor against AD champions and the ability to survive when enemies dive under your H-28G Evolution Turret make it a valuable item to have have. I would recommend buying it when facing a lot of assassins, especially if they are fed, but most of the time killing champions faster than they kill you is still a much better idea, which makes this item quite situational.

Morellonomicon is an effective choice when facing teams with high sustain, whether from items like Immortal Shieldbow, Ravenous Hydra, or Blade of the Ruined King, or from champions like Aphelios or Vladimir. It's a good idea to purchase Oblivion Orb early when needed, but I wouldn't recommend to finish this until last possible moment.

Banshee's Veil is pretty niche, as it gives almost no damage, but provides a one-time shield that prevents all forms of CC. However, the shield is disabled for 40 seconds after it is triggered. This item is usually bought when you are ahead and heavily targeted by fed mages or champions with hard CC like AP Malphite, Syndra, Orianna, etc.


Cosmic Drive is an item that is not normally bought by Heimerdinger as other items tend to be more useful in taking item slots. It's best bought as a 6th item when other situational items such as Rylai's Crystal Scepter or Morellonomicon are not needed. Cosmic Drive provides significant AP, Ability Haste, and some mobility. In the late game, you can also replace your boots with Cosmic Drive if there is no need for flat magic penetration. It's a good idea to consider this item if your mythic is Luden's Tempest, as it won't give you much Ability Haste, unlike Liandry's Anguish.

This tree is mainly about poking and a stronger late game.

Arcane Comet is one of the best runes for Heimerdinger. It allows you to poke your opponents very easily, scales well in the late game and works well into most compositions. If you don't know what to take, you can never go wrong with this one. You can use Hextech Micro-Rockets to fire the comet continuously, because one missile hit is enough. Not to mention that Arcane Comet's cooldown is reduced by dealing damage, which means that if an enemy is under your H-28G Evolution Turret, they will greatly reduce the cooldown so you can proc even 3 times during a short fight.

Nullifying Orb is situationally good against difficult bursty AP champions, as it provides a shield that blocks a bit of magic damage. I would only take this only in very, VERY difficult matchups, because Manaflow Band is much better.

Manaflow Band is one of the best runes because Heimerdinger is a mana-dependent champion, and this rune solves this problem a little. All you need to do is hit your opponent with Hextech Micro-Rockets or place H-28G Evolution Turret right on their face when the rune is not on cooldown.

Transcendence is good for ability haste and cooldown reduction upon taking down an enemy. I would take against enemies who are constantly destroy your turrets, like Vel'Koz, Xerath, Syndra, Taliyah, etc., so you can spam Hextech Micro-Rockets more easily and have H-28G Evolution Turret back sooner.

Absolute Focus is one of the best runes as it gives you a lot of AP (up to 30 in the late game), a stat that Heimerdinger loves a lot.

Scorch is a fully early game rune. You'll get the full benefit from minutes 1-19, but from the 20th minute Gathering Storm becomes much better.

As I said earlier Gathering Storm is a late game rune, but I still would recommend it instead of Scorch. It can give you 48 AP in 30 minutes and 80 AP in 40 minutes, almost like a whole item. Paired with Absolute Focus you can easily get 110 AP in the late game, increased to 154 AP with Rabadon's Deathcap.

Summon Aery is a less effective option than Arcane Comet as it deals less damage and Arcane Comet has a relatively low cooldown already while enemy is in turrets.
Phase Rush may be a funny off-meta rune, but it doesn't provide you with any damage at all.
Nimbus Cloak has a long cooldown and Heimerdinger cannot use it effectively.
Celerity can be fun to use, but it is largely pointless as Hextech Affinity with Boots provides enough movement speed to kite skill shots or escape from enemies. In the past, Celerity was more powerful as it provided an AP bonus from bonus movement speed.
Waterwalking is not useful for Heimerdinger as he spends a lot of time sitting in lane and even if you plan on roaming a lot, Scorch and Gathering Storm are better options. Instead, you can take Relentless Hunter (although it is not recommended).


This tree is mostly about snowballing and harassing squishes.

Electrocute is an underrated rune on Heimerdinger. It offers high burst damage and scales well into the late game. You can easily proc it by hitting the enemy with H-28G Evolution Turret and 2 autos or using the [E]>[W]>[AA] combo.
Your playstyle with Electrocute is slightly different from using Arcane Comet. Instead of poking the enemy endlessly, play more aggressively and try to all-in when the enemy is at 50% HP or lower. I recommend taking Ignite to increase kill pressure in lane, and Luden's Tempest to burst enemies more easily. If you can stun an enemy at low HP, it's almost a guaranteed kill.
Electrocute is effective against squishy and/or melee enemies such as Katarina, Zed, Yone and others, rewards aggressive playstyle more than passive and scales worse into late than Arcane Comet.

Dark Harvest is a questionable rune choice for Heimerdinger, as it requires keeping enemies at low health in order to gain stacks early on. This results in lower kill pressure in lane compared to runes like Electrocute or Arcane Comet. It's a high-risk, high-reward choice that can be effective when smurfing or in some certain situations, but should be used with caution.
To maximize the potential of Dark Harvest, consider taking Scorch and/or Absolute Focus if you're having trouble keeping enemies below 50% health, or Presence of Mind/ Manaflow Band if you have mana management issues. In my experience, this rune is most effective on Heimerdinger support/off-meta jungle in low ELO or ARAM. For other roles and higher ELOs, Electrocute or Arcane Comet may be MUCH better choices.

Cheap Shot is a rune that provides a small bonus to damage that cannot be reduced by Armor or Magic Resistances. It's a good choice to take as your primary rune if you don't need the sustain from Taste of Blood and nice against tanky opponents.

Taste of Blood is a good rune choice for Heimerdinger as it provides extra sustain in lane, which can save you from overextending and is particularly effective against poke champions such as Vek'Koz, Ziggs, Malzahar and others.

Ghost Poro is a pretty underrated strong rune as it grants extra vision and a warning ping when an enemy steps over it, while also giving 30 AP at max stacks (just like Absolute Focus in the late game). It's more effective than Eyeball Collection as it does not require kills or assists to be effective. Remember to place wards deep in the jungle to take full advantage of the extra vision.

Eyeball Collection is a rune that requires kills or assists to gain stacks, which can make it less or more effective in certain situations. Sometimes Ghost Poro may be a better choice as it grants extra vision and a warning ping when an enemy steps over it. This is especially important for Heimerdinger, who is often a prime gank target, and having good vision can be crucial for survival. But in other cases, Eyeball Collection is stacked MUCH faster, making snowball much easier.

Treasure Hunter is a fine rune choice as it grants 50 gold on the first kill, up to a maximum of 550 gold when fully stacked. It's great for Heimerdinger support as he can't farm or take early kills to get gold and has 3 enemy players in lane to get stacks including the jungler.

Ingenious Hunter can be extremely useful if you're building items with cooldowns, such as Luden's Tempest, Crown of the Shattered Queen, Everfrost, Zhonya's Hourglass, and Banshee's Veil. It works great with Cosmic Insight to reduce item cooldowns even more.

Ultimate Hunter is pretty good choice, because your ultimate is pretty strong and does significant amount of damage/CC.

Predator is not an effective rune as it only provides movement speed and does not offer any other benefits.
Hail of Blades is not suitable for us and cannot be used on his H-28G Evolution Turret.
Sudden Impact does not work with Heimerdinger's abilities.
Zombie Ward can work on support role, but Ghost Poro is a much better option.
Relentless Hunter is not a good choice as other hunter runes have more impact. Heimerdinger's playstyle is focused on keeping lane and map pressure rather than frequently roaming other lanes. Also, every DoT you have, such as H-28G Evolution Turret or Liandry's Anguish keep you in combat for much longer, disabling this rune for longer periods of time.


This tree is mostly getting getting more money, gaining access to power spikes much earlier

First Strike is a niche rune that can be effective in certain situations, such as against melee team comps where you can easily proc it for extra gold. It's best used on top lane against tanky champions, and can be a good option when you cannot kill an enemy and want to scale. Inspiration tree is also one of the best, as Heimerdinger is quite an item-dependent champion.
This rune works quiet well for Heimerdinger support, as you gain access to much more gold.
However, it's important to note that this rune is bad early and bad against a lot of high ranged champions as they can easily hit you to put it on cooldown.

Magical Footwear is a great rune for as it provides boots, giving 300 gold for free. It also gives a small movement speed boost, making it easier to kite enemies a bit. The downside is that you cannot buy boots for the first 12 minutes of the game (without takedowns).

Perfect Timing is also a good option, giving you 250 gold instead of 300 gold like Magical Footwear, but it gives you a Stopwatch which can save you from death in certain situations. Don't take this rune if you're not planning to buy Zhonya's Hourglass.

Future's Market allows you to acquire items much earlier, allowing you to complete expensive items such as Rabadon's Deathcap or Lost Chapter earlier and getting big powerspikes of damage. One of the best runes for Heimerdinger in my opinion.

Biscuit Delivery provides extra mana and sustain in the early game. Especially when combined with a Refillable Potion, it can help you to force your enemies to overextend and gain an advantage.

Cosmic Insight is an underrated rune that provides summoner spell and item haste. This is especially useful when combined with Barrier and Teleport but works well with other spells. It also works well with Ingenious Hunter to reduce the cooldowns of items even more.

Glacial Augment is not an effective rune as it only provides a small slow effect and Heimerdinger has a hard-to-land stun.
Unsealed Spellbook is not a good choice as it does not provide any damage and Heimerdinger does not rely heavily on summoner spells. While it may be useful to take Exhaust and Ignite and later change to Teleport for split-pushing, other runes are generally more effective.
Hextech Flashtraption is only useful for champions that can effectively utilize hooks and so is not a good choice.
Minion Dematerializer is not a great option as we already have the ability to clear waves quickly with H-28G Evolution Turrets.
Approach Velocity is not necessary as Hextech Affinity already provides enough movement speed to reposition after stunning an enemy.
Time Warp Tonic is an average rune, but has been nerfed significantly and there are better options available. Additionally, Heimerdinger already has enough movement speed from Hextech Affinity.


This tree is mainly for harassing melee champions and tanks.

Conqueror is one of the most situational runes when playing as Heimerdinger. I only take it when playing in the top lane against melee team comp, mostly bruisers, juggernauts and tanks. It's better than Arcane Comet early, but much worse against ranged champions and scales a bit poorly. By using auto-attacks to harass enemies and H-28G Evolution Turret to stack this rune, you can get a significant damage output. For example, if your opponent is trying to dive you under three turrets, you'll earn 12 stacks almost for free, equating to 24-54 AP (note that each turret can only give you up to 2 stacks and then has a short cooldown before being able to stack them again. Additionally, you can gain 2 stacks from Hextech Micro-Rockets this way). Keep in mind that the turrets lock your stats, so the AP won't change with new stacks, but they will still keep the AP from stacks that you've already lost. This means you should refresh the turrets if you have a lot of Conqueror stacks. Don't forget to constantly auto-attack the enemy to refresh existing stacks and gain new ones.

The Presence of Mind rune is an incredible choice when playing as Heimerdinger. I personally like it over Manaflow Band when facing melee champions, swapping Inspiration with Precision. By using auto-attacks to harass enemies, you can gain free mana, and combined with Legend: Alacrity or an Attack Speed shard, your mana becomes pretty limitless early. In most cases, I would pair it with Cut Down against tanky champions, but it can also be effective against squishy targets with Coup de Grace.

Legend: Alacrity is a good option for harassing enemies with auto-attacks, but I wouldn't recommend taking it as a secondary rune. Its main purpose is to refresh Conqueror stacks and gain mana from Presence of Mind.

Similarly, Legend: Tenacity is best used with Conqueror, not as secondary rune, and can be useful against heavy CC, but as Heimerdinger is quite squishy, he rarely can survive burst after CC, so this rune is not that great.

Coup de Grace has pretty low damage compared Cut Down, but still can be good against squishy champions as Heimerdinger can poke enemies with Liandry's Anguish/ Luden's Tempest, H-28G Evolution Turrets, and Hextech Micro-Rockets to make them low in health.

Cut Down is effective against heavy HP stackers, especially if you decide to buy Amplyfying Tome as a starter item, as it doesn't give you any health. If there are two or more HP stackers in the enemy team, I would recommend to take it in the secondary tree paired with Presence of Mind.

Last Stand can be a useful rune against enemy poke such as Gangplank or Malphite, but I still recommend Coup de Grace or Cut Down for its added safety and consistency. As Heimerdinger, you don't want to be at low HP in the first place, because you're very squishy and vulnerable champion

Press the Attack and Lethal Tempo are not effective runes as they are intended for auto-attack champions and do not work with his H-28G Evolution Turret.
Fleet Footwork is not a useful rune, Biscuit Delivery offers more reliable sustain.
Overheal is not a good choice as we doesn't have much sustain to keep it active.
Triumph may sound appealing, but Heimerdinger is not a "pentakill" champion and Presence of Mind is a more valuable rune. While it can be used if you are comfortable with it, it is not recommended.
Legend: Bloodline's Life Steal only works for auto-attackers and is not a good choice.


This whole tree is very niche since Heimerdinger is all about killing enemies faster than they kill him, so other trees are superior to this one

Demolish is an excellent rune as Heimerdinger is often pushing, making it easier to take tower plates in the early game and to split-push in the late game.

Bone Plating is pretty important against champions who rely on all-ins and don't have poke, such as Fizz, Zed, Yone, Pyke, etc. This rune is the only reason I would ever take Resolve.

Overgrowth might be okay if you're playing top lane against someone you can't kill (like Ornn or Tahm Kench) and you plan to farm for a large portion of the game, or took Bone Plating secondary and don't need Demolish. It provides extra durability, but it should be noted that HP is not a useful stat for Heimerdinger and thus this rune is mediocre.

Grasp of the Undying is not a suitable rune for as we doesn't need to stack a lot of health and already has sustain from other runes.
Aftershock is intended for tanks, so it is not useful.
Guardian can be used while playing support, but it does not offer any synergy with Heimerdinger's kit or playstyle and other runes are better options.
Font of Life is not a good rune choice for as our stun is not reliable, the heal is small, and other options are more effective.
Shield Bash is waste as we doesn't have shields.
Conditioning is not a good choice as we are not meant to tank damage. If you need more tankiness, take Zhonya's Hourglass, Banshee's Veil, or Crown of the Shattered Queen.
Revitalize is not useful as our sustain is not great and we cannot utilize the increased shield power.
Unflinching is the worst version of Legend: Tenacity and not a good choice.


Rune Shards

Choosing runes for Heimerdinger is a straightforward process. It is recommended to always take two Adaptive Force runes as Heimerdinger scales well with AP. Attack Speed runes can be useful for poking melee champions and last-hitting minions more easily, but they are generally not needed. For the third rune, consider taking Armor or Magic Resistances, depending on the type of enemy damage. If you are particularly worried about certain matchups, such as against Zed or Akali, you can take two Armor / Magic Resistance, but it's generally better to learn the matchup and adapt your playstyle accordingly.
FLASH
Taking Flash is a necessary choice for Heimerdinger in most scenarios, as it provides both outplay potential and an escape option for the otherwise immobile champion.

IGNITE
Ignite is an aggressive summoner spell that gives a lot of kill pressure, helping you to win lane, as well as applying anti-heal (which is good against sustain champions). Works best with Electrocute if you want to be really aggressive at level 2-3, but can work with other runes as well.

TELEPORT
Teleport is a safe option for Heimerdinger, especially if you want to play defensive and avoid using aggressive spells like Ignite or Barrier. It works best against champions who can push you out lane like Xerath, Vel'Koz, Syndra, Orianna, etc. It's also great for putting pressure on the map in the late game by split pushing. The only downside for using Teleport is much less kill pressure early on.

BARRIER
Barrier can be used to prevent death in your turrets, often by baiting enemies to dive at you. This is a powerful option that can save you a lot when you're low and works best against enemies with Ignite.

EXHAUST
Exhaust is a great and underrated summoner spell. It works best against high damage melee champions like Katarina, Yasuo, Irelia, Pantheon, etc. as it reduces their damage and makes it easier for you to stun them. However, it is not effective against champions that have higher range than you, as you won't be able to safely use it on them, in which case consider taking Barrier if you need a defensive spell.

HEAL
Heal is a great choice for the bot lane as it not only provides healing, but also a significant movement speed boost when paired with Hextech Affinity. This increased mobility makes it difficult for enemies to gank you and also allows you to catch them off guard with a double beam combo or finish them off with Hextech Micro-Rockets. However, it is still recommended to pick up an offensive spell and let your teammate choose Heal instead.

Early Game

Level 1

As soon as the game starts, head to your lane as quickly and deploy all of your H-28G Evolution Turrets as fast as possible. This allows you to reload your turrets faster and gain an early advantage in the lane. If you are playing top or bot lane, place your turrets in bushes as enemies often don't check them, allowing you to put more pressure on the lane early on.
Be careful not to place your turrets in front of cannon minions, as they can easily destroy them.
As Heimerdinger, your main goal is to farm as much as possible to be a threat later on, as you're pretty gold-dependant. Your second goal is to prevent your enemies from minions and lane prio. You should be able to outshove your enemies, harassing them under tower while getting CS and tower plates, sometimes even killing them, Ignite+ Electrocute can help with that. As you're almost always have prio, you can try to help your jungler on river skirmishes failry often, but take into account your H-28G Evolution Turret cooldown.
Before mid game, focus on getting as much CS as possible and avoid any skillshots using movement speed from Hextech Affinity.

Level 2

I prefer to upgrade CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade at level 2, as it allows me to punish enemies for getting too close to me. The grenade also makes it easier to zone the enemy champion from farming and harass them with a double beam combo. If you want to focus solely on farming and the enemy is not bothering you, you can upgrade Hextech Micro-Rockets second to poke and kill minions faster. But, I wouldn't recommend spamming it before fully stacking Manaflow Band or using Presence of Mind before getting Lost Chapter.

Level 3

At this point, you have everything you need to harass the enemy and farm effectively. This is your little power spike, as you can easily chunk half of enemy's HP after landing CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade. Avoid enemy ganks as they will start happening at this time, and most importantly know your limits and be aware that you can win most 1v2 fights or just escape by properly landing one CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade into an enemy in your turret nests. If you miss grenade, you can still escape fairly easy using MS from Hextech Affinity and/or Flash.

Level 6

Level 6 is your biggest power spike. At this point, you can easily go 1v2 with most champions and bait enemies to their death. Use this to your advantage to put a lot of pressure on the map, but remember that you become the #1 priority for enemy jungles. Push back as many waves as you can and knock down the enemy tower plate by plate. Use UPGRADE!!!, Hextech Affinity, Barrier, Exhaust, Flash, Stopwatch if the enemy jungle ganks you to kill them and/or escape. Keep farming until you get 1-2 items. You can also easily kill enemy laner 1v1 if they're low using CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade into Hextech Rocket Swarm.
At this point, some champions will start roaming more frequently, don't even bother following them. Instead, push waves and take free tower plates.

Mid Game

As Heimerdinger, your main objective in the mid game is to gain an advantage over your opponents by securing free resources such as minions and jungle camps. This will help you become stronger and allow you to take important objectives like Tower s, Baron , and Dragon . To achieve this, consider split pushing and drawing the enemy team's attention while your team applies pressure elsewhere on the map. Additionally, you can also camp in the enemy jungle after clearing camps, which can give you some free kills.

If you're ahead in the game (You have 3 items with Rabadon's Deathcap), you can easily take Baron at 20 minutes by using your H-28Q Apex Turret to tank the hits and placing your H-28G Evolution Turrets to deal damage.

In team fights, use your CH-3X Lightning Grenade to focus on high-priority targets such as fed assassins, the enemy jungler, or the enemy ADC. This will increase your chances of taking objectives. Additionally, use your H-28G Evolution Turrets and H-28Q Apex Turret to peel for your teammates, protecting them from enemy attacks.

Late Game

In the late game, you should focus on objectives such as Tower s, Baron , and Dragon . Your turrets deal high damage at this point and can easily take down these objectives. Try to split push and draw the enemy team's attention while your team applies pressure elsewhere on the map. Use your CH-3X Lightning Grenade to focus on a massive threat in team fights, and use your turrets to peel for your teammates. Teleport is a good choice for this stage of the game as it allows you to quickly join fights and take objectives. Remember to use your abilities effectively and make the most ultimate to secure victories in teamfights for your team.

In addition to focusing on objectives, you should also be aware of the enemy's movements and try to predict their next move. If they're pushing a lane, you can use your turrets to defend and hold them off. If they're trying to take an objective, you can use your abilities to disrupt their progress and make it more difficult for them to succeed.

Proper placement of H-28G Evolution Turret is very important for Heimerdinger. If you place them incorrectly, you will run into some issues: low damage, no coverage, easy to kill and AoE, no help in farming and pushing, etc.

Mid/Top/Bot

When pushing a lane, try to place the turrets in a triangle formation, with the first turret placed behind the minions. This will ensure that the minions are in range of all three turrets, maximizing their damage output. Additionally, try to place the turrets in such a way that they are protected by your minions, making them harder for the enemy to target and destroy.

When playing against poke champions, it can be beneficial to place your turrets closer to your tower to farm under its protection. This will make it harder for the enemy to destroy your turrets, allowing you to push the lane more effectively.

When playing against champions with linear skillshots, like Ezreal's Mystic Shot, try to place your turrets inside of minion waves to make it harder for the enemy to hit them.

Finally, be aware of the Cannon minions. These minions deal more damage and can easily destroy your turrets early on. Try to keep their aggro away from your turrets, by using your abilities or by luring them away.

Normal placement

In normal matches, I prefer this placement as it allows my turrets to overlap their ranges and deal more damage, making farming easier. However, it's important to note that this setup can be vulnerable to area of effect attacks and has a smaller coverage area compared to the next option.


Anti-AOE placement

In situations where I am facing champions like Lux, Brand, or Xerath who can quickly take out multiple turrets with one ability, I opt for this placement. It also allows me to more effectively pressure enemies when they are low on health and mana. However, this setup has a larger coverage area but less overlap, resulting in less damage output. During difficult matchups, I often try to position my turrets closer to my own tower rather than the enemy's, as it makes it harder for them to destroy the turrets behind the minion wave.


Safer Placement

Actually, I use three different turret placements, but this one is less common. I choose this setup when I'm overextending and uncertain of the enemy jungler's location. It allows for easier escape using Hextech Affinity as it provides coverage for most of the lane. This placement is most effective on the top or bottom lane as these are longer and have bushes, but it can be used in the middle lane as well.


Support

When playing Heimerdinger as a support, it's important to avoid placing turrets solely in the minion waves as this can disrupt your ADC's farming, especially if you don't want to push the lane. Instead, try to position them in bushes and as close as possible to walls, as shown in the image.

As a support Heimerdinger you cannot farm, so your main focus should be on harassing the enemy and maintaining lane pressure by controlling the bushes. You can easily push minion waves, allowing you and your ADC to take tower plates fairly easy. You can prevent enemy ganks using H-28G Evolution Turret, especially when UPGRADE!!! is up. With it you can easily fight 2v3. When playing as a Heimerdinger support or bot, don't be too afraid of the jungler and try to lure them into your turret nests.

In mid to late game, your objectives should be similar to other roles described in "GAME PLAN", but you should prioritize peeling for your teammates and providing vision more.

Build on gifs: 12 level (4Q 5W 1E 2R), Luden's Tempest, Rabadon's Deathcap, Sorcerer's Shoes against 70 MR.
Also, I forgot to include [AA] in most gifs.


Beam Combo

[E]>[Q]

This is one of the most important combinations to master when playing Heimerdinger. To execute it, first throw the CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade at an enemy, then place the H-28G Evolution Turret while the grenade is still in the air. This will cause the turret to fire a laser beam at the enemy after stun is landed, dealing significant damage. This combo is the foundation for many other variations and can be modified in various ways.
Basically, mostly all other combos revolve around this one, and it can be modified in quite different ways.

Double Beam Combo

[Q]>[E]>[Q]>[W]>[AA]

This combo is one of the most powerful combinations, dealing a total of four [Q] beams, [W], and [E] to the enemy. To maximize damage, wait for the turrets to fire their [E] laser beams before landing [W]. This combo can be modified by using [R][Q] (second turret), [R][W], or [R][E]. If you already have turrets placed or need to finish off enemies quickly, you can start the combo with [E], skipping [Q]. If you need more damage and are close enough to the enemy, finish the combo with [Q] instead of auto-attacking

Anti-Dive (Double Apex Turret Beam Combo)

[Q]>[E]>[R][Q]>[W]>[AA]

This combo is similar to the previous one and is good if someone gets close enough to you and is trying to kill or dive you. This is effective not only in duels but also against 1v2s, as the H-28Q Apex Turret gives you good AoE damage. If you are confident that you can land stun, use the ultimate turret first instead of the second, as it has a better timing.

Double Beam Rocket Swarm Combo

[Q]>[E]>[Q]>[R][W]>[AA]

This is an aggressive version of the Double Beam Combo, dealing high damage to a single target. It has the highest 1v1 DPS of any combo.

Double Beam Bounce Grenade Combo

[Q]>[R][E]>[Q]>[W]>[AA]

This is a weaker combo compared to the previous two, but it makes up for it with its long range, allowing you to kill enemies from a distance and even behind walls. Additionally, it is easier to hit with turret nests as the enemy may not expect it, resulting in higher damage in some situations.



Flash Grenade

[E]>[Flash]

This is one of Heimerdinger's most strongest yet simple-to-execute combos. With the CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade's travel time varying based on the distance to the target, you can cast [E] on your opponent and instantly Flash to catch them by surprise, resulting in near-instant stun. You can also apply this to the CH-3X Lightning Grenade to ensure that you either hit your target or if you want to stun multiple enemies during teamfights.


Poke

[E]>[W]>[AA]

This is a simple lane harassing combination that is only used in the early game. If the turrets are close enough to the enemy, they will fire laser beams that deal extra damage. Wait for the turrets to fire their laser beams for the first time before landing [W] for maximum damage.

Bush Camp

[Q]>[Q]>[Q]>...>[E]>[R][W]>[AA]

I would call it a trick rather than a combo. It's a great way to catch an unsuspecting enemy off guard. It involves placing a nest of turrets in a bush and waiting for an unsuspecting victim. Once the enemy is in range, hit them with [E] and finish off with [R][W] (if the turrets were not enough to kill the enemy). It is also a good idea to use the Oracle Lens to check for enemy wards, as this will ensure that your trick is not foiled by an enemy ward.

Blocking Skillshots


You can use H-28G Evolution Turret or H-28Q Apex Turret to block various skillshots, such as hooks and stuns from Thresh's Death Sentence or Pyke's Bone Skewer, etc. With practice, you'll get better at predicting and timing your blocks.

Blast Cones


The H-28G Evolution Turret and H-28Q Apex Turret can also be used to interact with Blast Cones, making them useful for stealing objectives like Baron and Dragon . Once you've reached a certain level of strength in the mid- to late-game, you can even kill Dragon solo by placing your turrets over the wall.

Farming Camps


In the mid-game, you'll be able to clear jungle camps over walls using a combination of H-28G Evolution Turret, CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade, and Hextech Micro-Rockets. Remember that the turrets deactivate after 8 seconds, so you can leave them in place while you finish clearing the camp.

Destroying Turrets


You can use your turrets to effectively destroy enemy towers. Since the tower will focus on your turrets first, wait for a wave with a cannon minion, clear it, and then set up your turrets (while cannon minion taking all the damage), then just clear the incoming minions with Hextech Micro-Rockets. Additionally, if you want to destroy a low-health enemy tower with no minions, you can use H-28G Evolution Turret to tank a few turret shots.

Teleport Camp


If you see an enemy using Teleport, place your H-28G Evolution Turret (and H-28Q Apex Turret if the enemy is tanky) and try to land your CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade just in time to trap them and prevent their escape.
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[13.17] In-Depth Heimerdinger Guide [Mid/Top/Bot/Support]

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