Hi! Thanks for your support!

This kind of posts is very encouraging as it proves that more and more players use their brain to create a build tailored for them, using guides as they are meant to: guide them. I did not always have this feeling. What you guys suggest in your comments give me ideas to test things around and improve my builds, thank you!

Hi! One again, I thank everybody showing their support to this guide!



I think nothing would provide as well appropriate utility as the Frozen Mallet; however, if you are looking for a good damage item, I would suggest to get either Infinity Edge or Last Whisper. I cannot decide which one is the best though, given that I haven't done any calculations about the effective damage provided by Last Whisper for a comparison with IE.

Concerning Force of Nature, it is definitely the most defensive item against magic (maybe except Banshee's Veil) :) I cannot think about a more protective MR item, actually; and it synergizes very well with Garen's abilities. Quicksilver Sash provides less MR, but it has the Cleanse effect and costs only 1.4k gold. It is another valid choice, well-suited for specific situations.

Thanks for the suggestion mate. However, I decided to try out more of an offtank build since though I was nigh unkillable as Tabk Garen, I wasnt dealing a whole lot of damage so decided to switch things up an bit and wanted to run it by you. Following the Atmog Build, the first items I get(after the Dorans Blade) are: Boots of Swiftness/Mercury Treds, Atmas Impaler, and Warmogs Armor, then I get the Ghostblade and follow it up with Force of Nature.

Now currently, I have added the Frozen Mallet as my 6th item, as it gives me some extra AD as well as slowing the opponent, however what would be another good item besides that to increase his attack damage? And is Force of Nature worth it or should I switch it out for something more defensive?

Ty for your guide i went 20/2/13 in one match....helped so much

Great Guide! I went 4/1/0. I was 1v2 against pantheon and janna. I zoned them so hard 1v2. I was pwning so hard,that I forgot that the enemy shaco was fed 11/0. My team surrendered at the 20 Minute Mark. D: I was so sad...

I would personally go for Frozen Mallet by default as it provides a very much needed soft CC and a nice bunch of HP. Now, if you feel like AP champions are bullying you, you'll want to go for Force of Nature: it has the highest MR rate in the game and it gives an incredible amount of HP regen (plus, you'll have this much appreciated speed bonus). I wouldn't consider an additional Warmog: Frozen Mallet has more interesting benefits.

Thanks for the feedback mate, and I will most likely stay with Aegis of the Legion but appreciate the feedback on the other items I suggested. However in the case of the Ghost Blade, I rarely have gotten that far as the game usually ends at that point before I get a chance to build it, but having it is nice as it gives me damage on top of being nearly impossible to kill. However, only thing I am still debating on is either Force of Nature or the Frozen Mallet for my 6th item. Both have benefits but just wondering which one you would recommend most of the time with the Tank Garen Build, or should I just go all out for a 2nd Warmogs Armor for more health?

And I agree with you that is hated a lot, all my friends dislike it but yet I have proof in a number of games that I can go the tank route with him and accomplish that role quite nicely =D.

Hi guys! Time to write a few answers to these messages!



I must disagree with that. I have played and seen lots of games with Garen. I have discussed this question with lots of people. I have read a decent amount of resources on Garen. And in most cases, people agree with the fact that Garen is extra-strong early in the game and looses his edge later in the game. You can basically kill every single champion (except Rammus, maybe) using a skill combo at level 6; you cannot do that at level 18.

Kiting is also a real threat to Garen. A good Ashe with Phantom Dancer and a pair of boots will simply rape you before you can reach her just by running away from you between every attack. This is a problem every champion lacking gap closers and ranged attacks have: Udyr, Shyvana, Singed, and tons of others. You need to know that in order to give your opponents the minimum number of opportunities to exploit this weakness.

I finally think Garen is indeed a decent matchup against Singed, who has no sustain and no ranged ability. I would have expected a victory of our Demacian fighter :)



There are so many things to say! Firstly, tank Garen is indeed quite good when you're not very familiar with the game or the champion. Spin-to-crit requires lots of skill to be effective (and if your early game goes wrong, it is often a guaranteed fail for the rest of the game).

Your item choice seems very valid to me, of course. However, I would rather talk about an offtank build, because you actually build damage :) Garen has a strong tanking ability due to his W, so even with an offtank build, he can soak a high amount of damage.

Now about items. Randuin's Omen does not fulfill the same role as Aegis of the Legion. The latter gives you MR (about 30 or so) and Randuin gives you extra armor. Aegis buffs your team, while Randuin debuffs AD champions. And Randuin costs more than 1k extra gold compared to Aegis. I would actually replace Aegis with Randuin only if I could see that I get focused by an AD carry. And Guardian Angel is 'noob' on most tanks just because they'll die too late in fights so they can do anything after they revive but get killed another time. Therefore, neither would I consider it a good replacement for Aegis.

Finally, about tank Garen's reputation. Truth is: when people see a Garen player building his hero as a tank, they usually think he's gonna be useless. Of course, this is not true. He just won't deal tons of damage in late game. That's it. But dealing damage is not the whole point of winning fights and games (Taric does not deal any tiny bit of damage, for instance, and he is a good pick though). Tank Garen is underestimated and hated, but it works by taking advantage of Garen's strong early game damage. I must say that I lost lanes against tank Garens quite recently (as Irelia, for instance), and that pissed me off quite a bit ;)

Your build, though, is rather offtank, as I mentioned before. And I see no reason to hate an offtank Garen but his ultimate. More precisely, your friends may dislike it because your resilience and your ultimate can lead to you to take lots of kills. A fed Garen is nice for the team, a fed Miss Fortune is better, so leave the kills to the carries when you can, because they need it.

That's it! Thank you all for your feedback. See you!

Great guide overall mate! As a fairly new player, I can honestly say that I have used the "Tank" Garen build for the last few games, and needless to say I have done 10x times better then when I was trying out the Spin-to-Crit build (went 12/4/19 in my last game with him). However I do things a little differently compared to your Tank build, but I still give credit to you and everyone else who took the time to show us these Build =D. I run my build as such (in this Order):

*Doran's Blade, Mercury Treds, Aegis of the Legion, Warmog's armor, Atma's Impaler, and then either Force of Nature or in most cases, the Frozen Mallet, and if the game goes on longer, I switch out the Dorans Blade for the Ghostblade for some extra offensive power. Recently I have been tempted to switch out Aegis of the Legion for Raduins Omen but not too sure if this would be a good move (need some advice on it), or possibly Guardians Angel, but have been avoiding it since I can see why it will be a "Noob" move. Reason for not taking the Sunfire Cape is though its a good item in early/Mid game, it loses its effectiveness in late, so I opted to get the "Atmogs" build first as it makes him nearly impossible to kill.

Now this build has driven my opponents crazy, and I like it because not only can Garen play the Tank role very well, he can also dish out enough damage to make opponents wary of him. However, a few friends I play with have really started hating this build as they feel that it hurts the team more then helps, which I disagree with because I have shown them many times that I can play the role as a tank but for some reason they are against it. Is the Garen Tank build really hated that much? Besides that I really enjoy the build and I appreciate any other tips you can help me with.

I DIDNT LIKE IT!!!!!!!!I WAS FEEDING

I DIDNT LIKE IT!!!!!!!!I WAS FEEDING