Heimerdinger Build Guide : [9.23] [S10 CHALLENGER] Heisendong's Guide ~ Raise Your What

About me

Hey guys, I am Heisendong and I love Heimer a lot. Like really, I have about 3000 games on all of my accounts combined and I've got challenger playing on multiple accounts for last 3 years on NA server. I will try my best to keep this guide updated :D. As of 9.23 the guide is up to date, the biggest change in season 10 so far is that Conqueror keystone is great vs shorter range champions who put up a tough fight, but I am still testing it so I will update the guide when I will be sure if it is good or not!

At the end of Season 8 I had 2 challenger accounts (0FFMETA and Heisendong) and a master one (Heisendongg), and I have been high elo since I started playing the game.

I also stream here regularly, so feel free to drop by! And I have Youtube channel with funny and useful videos and montages :D

Pros and Cons

is a great siege champion with a lot of zone and objective control, and his ult is very versatile. But he has his disadvantages that we will talk about right now.

Pros

DAMAGE ~ in 90% of my games, i’m doing the most damage on the team.
Heimer ult, UPGRADE!!! is versatile: you can zone and disrupt with H-28Q Apex Turret, burst with Hextech Rocket Swarm, and CC or engage/counter engage the enemy team with CH-3X Lightning Grenade.
Heimerdinger brings a lot of objective control to the team: he takes towers, dragons and barons really fast.
High chances your opponent have no idea how to play against Heimerdinger and will make abusable mistakes. This is especially true for lower elos, but not exclusive.
Can often turn around ganks and surprise enemies with damage.
His turrets offer great zoning potential, especially with Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

Cons

Can sometimes push when you don’t want to which can get punished by a good jungler.
1v2 potential is lacking if enemy just Smite/1-shots your turrets or if it’s unfavorable matchup. (Or if the enemy uses their invulnerability/dashes to avoid your stun)
Requires you to set up and predict enemy behaviour to play at full potential.
If put behind early can feel difficult to ever get back into the game.

Runes

This is a great runepage which provides more consistent damage output compared to the other pages. is more reliable than , but since patch 9.6 turret AAs proc which results in more damage output overall. You also get a lot of healing from and .

With this page my usual build is, though it really depends on a lot of things which I cover at items section:

> > > > / > /

Core items

Situational items

Ok, when it comes to poke you can take either or . I would use one of these two trees if I’m against long range/push champions and my goal is to sit back and poke with . Starting with the keystone, why or ? Both are valid choices because they proc off your . Aery is good early on not only because it procs off your AA in lane, but also off your turrets’ attacks. does more damage and your and 's lasers reduce CD, your can proc it twice by itself, therefore is better late game. Overall this is a good poke page. You can swap for .

With this page my usual build is the same as in DPS page, but becomes more desirable because it helps Comet to land:

> > > > / > /

Core items

Situational items

I would use this tree if I'm vs shorter range champs who I can reliably land my E on or somebody who I can burst easily.
You can trade for , or change both secondary runes to and , thought the latter set-up is worse past 10 minutes into the game. In harder lanes swapping Sorcery for Inspiration is also an option. In this case you take //.

My usual build with this rune page is, again, the same:

> > > > / > /

Core items

Situational items

Summoner's Spells

: Taking flash is necessary in almost every game because it gives you outplay potential and mobility for immobile champion like Heimerdinger. Always take . Second summoner spell depends on a lot of things, like what are you going lane, who's on enemy team etc.

: It's a safe summoner spell to take when you don’t need or in mid-lane. You can take it vs champs like (, , etc) to counter their globals. gives you global presence and late game split push possibility. Overall it is a safe summoner spell that makes your laning phase a much more convenient: you can back to the lane after you got poked, or ganked, or against a tough matchup. This way you don’t fall behind in experience or cs even though you have died or backed. Also it makes easier to make plays on other lanes. As a downside doesn’t provide any combat power, so you become MUCH weaker in the 1v1 and 1v2 and often have to retreat or give up your towers.

: Sometimes you might use if enemy team has too much CC (e.g. , , , and - CC for days) and especially in matchups where enemy relies on CC like , , . Really important note: Cleanse doesn’t work on suppressions, so it is completely useless to take against , or to counter their ultimates.

: great summoner spell against assassins and short range burst champions (, , , , , etc) and some bruisers in top lane. You should not take Exhaust if your enemy outranges you (, etc).

: This is a good combat summoner spell that gives you a lot of dueling potential and damage to finish off your opponent.
Ignite is ok for most matchups in mid-lane, especially against champions with strong self healing in top-lane (e.g. , ) or if enemy team has a lot of healing in general.

: a viable defensive summoner spell, but you shouldn’t take it if you expect your lane opponent to take (e.g. assassins and burst mages like , , take most of the time, while more DPS oriented mages like , , , take other summoners as well) since it reduces healing that makes better in these scenarios.

: A good choice if you against someone with really quick burst like or champions who usually out of exhaust range (e.g. , , ). Using requires good timing unlike because your enemy can just wait until ends if timed poorly, but it absorbs more damage than restores.

Abilities

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

Here we talk about 's abilities, what do they do and when to use them.

Hextech Affinity (passive)

Heimerdinger gains 20% bonus movement speed while near allied turrets or his or own. Your passive helps you to kite around your turrets and dodge skillshots.

H-28G Evolution Turret (Q)

Heimerdinger deploys a at the target location.
Attack - Cannon: 6/9/12/15/18 (+30% Ability Power) Magic Damage.
Attack - Beam: 40/60/80/100/120 (+55% Ability Power) Magic Damage every 90 seconds.

You can place maximum 3 turrets. They count as minions (pets), so their usual auto-attacks don’t proc on-hit effects (e.g. red buff, , ) or spell effects (e.g. , , ). Only exception is that procs 20% slow for 1 second. However, the laser (or beam) procs all spell effects and counts as AoE spell. If there is a ring (cog) around the enemy - this means that they are the priority target of your turrets attacks.

Turrets can be Smited and count as minions vs champions with bonus damage to minions.
Turrets will try to hit the same target and prioritizes enemies who you auto-attack or hit with your spells.
Turrets laser will try to shoot at enemy champions even if they are out of range and they are charged. Turrets also take 40% more damage from melee attacks and melee spells.
Turrets HP scale off heimerdinger’s level + his AP.
Turrets can be placed over walls and ledges and blast coned.

The turret laser has 90 seconds cooldown after being placed, but other basic abilities charge it if they hit enemy champions - your gives 20% of the charge for each rocket and gives full charge. Even if an enemy is staying just a bit outside your turret auto-range then you can still stun them or hit your to charge and shoot the turret laser at them.

Generally speaking turret placement during laning phase depends on champion you play against. Spread them out if enemy has AoE abilities (e.g. , , ), place them inside minion wave if enemy has linear skillshots (e.g. , ) or place them defensively if enemy destroys your turrets with ease (e.g. , , ):
Also early into the game try to be aware of cannon minion waves, because if your turrets are placed past half of the lane then they will be destroyed and you can’t defend them since creep aggro is too powerful.
Sometimes you may want to play them under your turret to help you CS and in between usual ganking paths so they act like a ward.

You can use blast plants to throw your turrets over walls or into unexpecting enemies. Generally, placing your turrets in hard to kill areas like bushes and over walls is the safe thing to do outside of lane because it offers vision and control. You have to find a balance between keeping your turrets in safe, zoning spots while also having them close enough to enemies so they auto-attack and shoot lasers when you hit abilities.

Hextech Micro-Rockets (W)

Unleashes a barrage of 5 rockets that converge towards the cursor and fan out past it. Rockets deal 60/90/120/150/180 (+45% Ability Power) Magic Damage.
Additional rocket hits deal reduced damage:
Champions and Monsters:12/18/24/30/36 (+12% Ability Power) Magic Damage, max 108/162/216/270/324 (+93) total damage
Minions: 60% of base damageRocket hits against champions charge nearby turret beam attacks.

Your W is a linear skillshot that consists of 5 separate rockets. Every rocket after the first deals 20% of its original damage to champions.

If you hit all 5 on one enemy you do 180% of it’s damage
If you hit 1 missile each on 2 enemies you deal 200% damage.
If you hit 1 missile each on 5 enemies (spread out) you deal 500% damage.

It is much easier to poke enemies if you SPREAD the wide. If you spread the , it will be almost impossible to dodge. The first missile of the 5 hit does the most damage, and the rest do less therefore spreading and hitting just 1 is good enough 90% of the time. They also spawn from BEHIND ’s character model - so be careful with using it in minion waves or when a non-priority target is behind you.

CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade (E)

Hurls a grenade that deals 60/100/140/180/220 (+60% Ability Power) Magic Damage to enemies and slows their Movement Speed by 35% for 2 seconds. Enemies in the center of the blast are also stunned for 1.25 seconds. Hitting a champion fully charges nearby turret beams.

Slow moving, lobbed ability which stuns in the center and slows around the center. This ability is mainly used to CC the enemy to guarantee hitting your missiles or charging turret lasers. It is very easy to dodge so throw the grenade first, THEN put a turret down which will still charge the laser if you do it fast enough.

IT GRANTS VISION, so use it to scout bushes/over walls etc when you have no vision. Can also use this to help your team when they can’t see. DO NOT SPAM this ability to clear waves, or to poke, etc. Every time it's off cooldown, because you WANT to have the THREAT of at any time.

UPGRADE!!!(R)

H-28Q Apex turret (R+Q)

Hextech Rocket Swarm (R+W)

CH-3X Lightning Grenade (R+E)

empowers his next basic ability, placing it on the same cooldown as its basic form, modifying its damage and making it free to cast.

The ultimate version of skills take the ability that you empower off cooldown BUT they scale off the LEVEL ('s level 6, 11, 16) and not the ABILITY LEVEL. Therefore, if you max your first, using your will be less efficient. (This does not apply for ULT+Q because it doesn't take your Q CD).

Places a Turret for 8 seconds that deals 80/100/120 (+30% Ability Power) Magic Damage with its cannon and 100/140/180 (+70% Ability Power) Magic Damage with its beam. It has splash damage, immunity to disables, its attacks slow by 25% for 2 seconds and it doesn't count toward the Turret limit.

Use to:

Combo with E+W for big laser damages;
Tank skillshots;
When getting ganked to tank/slow and damage;
Diving enemy under his tower;
Take buffs/herald/dragons/barons/towers;
To zone the enemy off an area;
It does more DPS than other Ult+W and Ult+E

Be careful using against champions who can displace it and make it worthless like , , , and or like , and really any champion with good single target damage vs minions who can 1 shot your turret especially when paired with .
After 8.1 patch Ult+Q became much weaker and shouldn’t be used as much. The other 2 options became better, especially Ult+E, but Ult+Q still has its uses.
If you want to use it to push tower or dive you should place your ULT+Q CLOSER to the enemy tower than your little turrets so the tower focuses your tankier ULT turret.

Fires 4 waves of rockets that each deal 135/180/225 (+45% Ability Power) Magic Damage. Champions and Monsters hit by multiple rockets take reduced damage, max 500/690/865 (+183% Ability Power).

It is good for bursting an enemy champion, buffs, or an objective. Using is especially good if you do not have many levels in (so if you max first). Pair this up after you land a stun with to guarantee every single rocket hitting. But most of the times it is not as good as or especially since you max rockets first.

Throws a bouncing grenade that discharges three times, dealing 150/250/350 (+75% Ability Power) Magic Damage. Both the stun and slow areas are larger and the slow is improved to 80%.

The bounce works something like 's ). is best for engage and counter-engage in team fights (multiple stuns with huge AoE and decent damage) and for sniping squishy carries who are overextended. Important, that enemy can only be damaged once, but can be slowed or stunned multiple times. It’s also good for stealing and taking objectives when the enemy is body blocking .
Worth to mention that can break spell shields with one bounce and deal damage and stun the target with another. It also really good use of ult since you max E last and you get more damage this way.
Although the ULT+E is slow, allowing people to dodge a bit at max range, it also means there is ample time for you to place turrets as it's in the air to get lasers off when the Ult+E hits enemies.

A little trick not many people know or think of, using again refunds the cooldown of your ultimate but still takes the 100 mana. You can use this to scare off enemies and then cancel the ult to get the cooldown back. Also can mind game against people who don’t know it.

Items

Heimerdinger's items can be very flexible and dictate how you’re going to be playing the champion. This is what you’ll want to prioritize:

1) Reaching CDR cap
2) Having enough mana / mana regen to push and poke
3) AP & Magic penetration

The generic build I use most games:

> > > > >

Though the build itself and its order depend on runes you have, the matchup and enemy team composition, so using the same build every game is not efficient enough. For example, as 2nd item you can also build if you need healing reduction and enemies don't have a lot of magic resist or if you need HP and kiting potential, or / if you absolutely NEED it early on. Most of the time the last item is more defense oriented, e.g. /.

Next let's talk about what items can build, when and why.

CORE ITEMS

Luden's Echo

Luden’s Echo should be your first item most of the time. It offers you massive poke damage with your spam, good pushing power and needed mana/CDR. It works very well with the POKE rune page in the section above because it procs Aery and scorch. Also a great combo with and since proc applies the slow after the ability that proc’d it by about .5 second (making the slow last longer than usual) and procs Liandry's as well in an AoE.

Sorcerer's shoes/Ionian boots of Lucidity

or depends on your other items: Build in almost every other case, it gives you super damages. The less MR a target has, the more damage shoes gives you. Versus 120+ MR enemies, I prefer to take , , or any other boots. Build if you desperately need the 10% CDR on skills and summoner spells or if you are against enemies with a lot of magic resist.

Morellonomicon

As a second item is very important if you need healing reduction and magic penetration. If the enemy has less than 60 MR this item will be better than in most situations. If you’re maxing and have and Aery/scorch rune page, will give you the most value for poke.

Void staff

Necessary if the enemy team has 70+ magic resist, but magic penetration is also good against more squishy targets. You can build it as second item if enemy team rushed MR items like , , etc. If your team has multiple AP threats (solo lane is magic damage, jungler is magic damage), you will likely buy this as a second item.

Rabadon's deathcap

Great 2nd or 3rd item since the passive gives you insane amount of AP if you already have have an item or two + AP rune page. It doesn’t give anything besides raw AP, so sometimes other items are more important. If you’re able to play safe, and want insane damage and objective control (damage to minions and monsters) feel free to grab this.

Rylai's crystal scepter

Another great item. It gives 20% slow on every AA and ability including turret lasers + good amount of AP and HP. You can build it early to kite short range and immobile champs, but avoid doing so if your team already have enough slows since it will be less efficient because slows don't stack. slow doubles the damage you do from burn. I build it 2nd or 3nd to go along with (since the Luden's proc applies Rylai's slow as well)

SITUATIONAL ITEMS

Liandry's Torment

Can be a good item choice if enemy team has 2-3 high hp and low MR tanks since burn damage scales with enemy current HP so it is noticeable on targets with a lot of health. Also it synergizes very well with and and because of increased damage on CCed targets and the fact that splash procs it. Besides being effective against high HP tanks its passive (10% more damage while in combat) will always be maxed out as long as you are poking since the passive burn counts as in combat.

Zhonya's Hourglass

Active on it is mandatory in many matchups: you should get if your lane opponent and enemy jungler are AD champions. Keep in mind: is a great defensive item not just against AD matchups like , but also assassins like and reset based champions (e.g. ). But it’s not as good as it used to be on since your s don’t shoot lasers automatically while you’re in stasis.

Banshee's Veil

Another defensive item choice. It has nice MR, AP and CDR, therefore it’s perfectly viable item against heavy AP team/strong AP laner (e.g. , ). also help a lot if enemy team has important spells to block that might catch you ('s , 's , engage abilities like 's , 's , 's , 's , 's etc)

Rod of Ages

You may want to rush this items if you absolutely NEED HP and sustain early on. The only downside is you will do much less damage early on and have no CDR. Personally, I think the item is fine if you are new to and play very passive early on anyway, but I do not like the playstyle, and frankly is much worse than .

Mercury's Treads

These boots are really underrated choice for mages. In some lanes or games overall you need as much MR as possible with Tenacity on top of that which comes in handy against teams with a lot of hard cc. You can build it vs stuff like , , , etc.

Mejai's Soulstealer

If you either expect to get a lot of kills/assists to increase snowballing or if you desperately need some way of comeback - few stacks on have potential to return you into the game. Very nice if you also have a (the active gives your whole team movement speed, thus granting you assists for any of the teams kills). But the item is not cost efficient until 7 stacks and it brings a lot of enemy team’s attention to you to shut you down until your starts to stack.

Spellbinder

Important thing is if you place the turrets while the active is on the bonus AP from will be a permanent buff until the turrets die. Great for melting an objective like Baron or set up a bush cheese.

Lich Bane

It doesn’t give much wants except pushing power. Spellblade passive is almost useless in teamfights unless the enemy is all short range. It’s really only worth it if you sell boots for it as a last item in order to backdoor or clutch win the game with it’s auto attack on turrets/nexus.

Hextech Gunblade

The main reason you build on is that its healing passive works on 's auto attacks (counting as SINGLE TARGET damage), which heals you for a surprising amount. The active also helps you land your and although the bonus AD feels wasted, it can be noticeable vs short range melees who you auto a lot.

FAQ, Gameplay and Playstyle

"Ok Heisen, now I have an idea what does as a champion, what to build, but what do I do next? How I play the lane and what lane is better in?" Don't worry, I have some answers for you!

Q: I’m a new player. What’s the most important thing to know?

A: Your s are your everything. They are your friend, your lover, your livelihood. Try to have some turrets stored up when you push turrets, invade/gank/dive enemy, take objectives. They tank for you, block skillshots, provide ward-like vision in bushes and over walls. Turret protec, but turret also attac. Turrets the majority of your damage when combined with your other abilities. Remember to place your turrets down FIRST before you throw your / (because they shoot a laser if you hit the or full ).

Basic combo is auto attack -> put -> Throw -> put ANOTHER Turret (WHILE granade is in the air) -> put 3rd turret -> . By the time the grenade lands, there will be 2 turrets on the ground so 2 lasers will shoot the enemy. Then when your W lands there will be 3 turrets so 3 additional lasers will fire. Most enemies can’t survive this combo when done perfectly.

Q: Mid or top Heimerdinger? What is better and what you prefer?

A: In mid-lane you can minimize the impact of getting camped because the lane is much shorter and you have the range to be able to farm from off the screen with missiles.
Top-laners usually have less wave-clear, so it may feel easier to harass and poke them under tower but this leaves you vulnerable to jungle pressure. Jungle pressure is everything in the top lane. Warding is KEY so you can prepare turrets and choose to run away or fight. Being a magic damage dealer in the top is also problematic because if your mid/jg is also AP -> the enemy team will stack MR early.

Heimerdinger is more effective toplane, but you are more open to ganks. Mid is safer lane, but you have more bad match-ups there

Q: So I win my lane almost every game, what should I do after laning?

A: can easily poke the enemy out of lane and take their tower then go to another lane and poke/push with teammates. It's very unexpected to have an enemy or walk to your lane and either take your tower or dive you. Make sure you have 2-3 stored if you want to do this safely!
If you are ahead your is not so great and most of the times it is straight up overkill, can miss, or blocked by a tank. The safest late game ult is : it brings more reliable damage and CC (because it is easier to land damage on the backline).

Q: What is ’s main job in lane? What about teamfights?

A: Your job in lane is to gently apply pressure with your champion. Most solo match-ups can’t deal with your push/harass if you play it well. Force the enemy to use their , summoners/potions/get creeps under tower so you can draw jungle aggro, help your jungler invade - take objectives. Help your mid/bot take their respective tower. It’s important to not get too greedy. For example pushing up too far without turrets, dying and then losing the groove of the lane for the rest of the game.
In teamfights, you should stay a safe enough distance away to avoid any threat from the enemy but close enough to hit a max range on the front line or squishies if the front line isn't doing their job correctly (which is common even in high elo). Keep your in hidden and safe places over walls, in bushes, etc so when you catch someone out with they will shoot lasers and you can retreat to them. is good for early teamfights but falls off in base damage (compared to other ults) and is easily killed late game.

Your CH-3X Lightning Grenade is really underrated and can be really gamechanging.

Q: I have trouble with CSing: my turrets just ruin every cs I try to get, what to do?

A: You need to go with the flow of the s. Try to last hit whatever THEY are hitting. If you try to get 2 CS at once it will almost always mess you up because as you auto one minion - the turret will switch aggro to whatever you try to last hit and you can end up missing BOTH that way. NEVER trust your turrets to get last hits. Often times the visual effect of the turret and the actual damage that applies to the minions are off-sync (may cause temporary madness in some players)

Q: I want to play botlane, what supports synergize the best with him?

A: For the best supports are the ones who can either push or have a lot of crowd control (CC). For example, works well because he can both help you push with his and has CC with . Other examples are: , , , .

[9.23] [S10 CHALLENGER] Heisendong's Guide ~ Raise Your What

[9.23] [S10 CHALLENGER] Heisendong's Guide ~ Raise Your What

Recommended Items

Runes: DPS

Spells:

Flash

Teleport

Flash

Ignite

Flash

Heal

Barrier

Flash

Items

Ability Order

Hextech Affinity (PASSIVE)

H-28G Evolution Turret (Q)

Hextech Micro-Rockets (W)

CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade (E)

UPGRADE!!! (R)

Threats & Synergies

Azir

Cho'Gath

Yasuo

Anivia

Syndra

Orianna

Fiora

Ziggs

Xerath

Karthus

Malzahar

LeBlanc

Morgana

Master Yi

Vladimir

Wukong

Sion

Tahm Kench

Talon

Nasus

Riven

Viktor

Lux

Rengar

Shen

Fizz

Lulu

Vel'Koz

Table of contents

About me

Pros and Cons

Runes

Summoner's Spells

Abilities

Items

FAQ, Gameplay and Playstyle

League of Legends Champions: