Edit (before publishing): Wow, I have a lot more respect for guide makers now that I've made one. This guide took me the entire month of April 2018 (although I didn't work on it every single day). This was much more demanding than I thought it would be. If anyone sees this guide, I would love to hear your feedback, positive or negative, and let me know about what I did right and what I did wrong. Thanks for your time!

About Me

Hi, I'm megapooplord. Yes, an incredibly charming name, I know. I'm a toxic Silver 4 player who spends most his time in ranked normals. Hey, I'm just here to have fun. I have started to play ranked more, but I'm still playing a lot in normals just to practice. This is my first guide ever and I might make more. I play mainly top lane and jungle, and I have no real mains. Yes, there are some champions I enjoy playing more than others ( Galio is definitely one of them), but it's like I have an ADD attack when I play one champion for too long. By no means am I a pro at this game or any of the champions I play, but hopefully my builds and guides can open your mind or maybe even help you in playing the game. I just like playing this game and exploring different builds and seeing what works.

Pros

• Great vs. Mostly AP teams
• Good damage output
• Good CC
• Good team fighting capabilities
• Great engages / lane pressure
• Damage sponge with Shield of Durand
• Roaming is easy with Hero's Entrance

Cons

• Easily countered by AD teams
• No reliable escapes
• Very slow, immobile
• Weak when abilities on cooldown
• Easy to poke / outranged
• Winds of War is main damage

Right now, as far as I know, Galio is kind of irrelevant in this meta. That means he is a relatively safe last pick. What I try to do if I am towards the top of the picking order is ask someone below me if they own Galio and what champion they want. If I own their champion and they own Galio, and they're willing to trade, then do it. This will allow you to wait to see the enemy team's comp before deciding if Galio is a good pick or not. With that being said, here are some guidelines to help you determine whether you should pick Galio or not.

When to pick Galio

• The enemy team is mostly magic damage
• Your team needs a tank
• Your team needs magic damage
• Your team needs CC
• Your team needs an engage/ 2nd supportive role (with Hero's Entrance)

When you might want to play someone else

• The enemy team is mostly physical damage
• The enemy top laner can easily kite/poke you
• The enemy top-laner has disgusting lane pressure (i.e. Darius, Illaoi, Urgot, etc.)
• Your team is mostly magic damage/ needs a physical damage champion

Primary Rune Trees

(big icons = main choices for consideration)

Resolve

Aftershock should be used most of the time. The scaling damage with bonus health, attack damage, and AP works beautifully with all of you immobilizing abilities. Though, if you're feeling ballsy or your team needs more AP damage instead of another tank, then I would go Electrocute or Summon Aery. I will cover these later.

Demolish can help get that extra damage off to towers, but I think it isn't quite necessary because of Colossal Smash.

Font of Life is pretty good for team fights. You have 3 movement impairing abilities: Shield of Durand, Justice Punch, and Hero's Entrance (a fourth would be Winds of War with Rylai's Crystal Scepter). If you aim to play a secondary supportive role, take Font of Life.

Bone Plating is good to stay alive early game and help win trades in lane. It can cover your retreat and lessen the damage you take when backing out of an engage.

Conditioning is very good for a full tank build, especially on Galio because his abilities scale with magic resistance.

Second Wind is definitely a tough contender with Conditioning. Second Wind is more for winning trades in lane early and can combo well with Bone Plating.

Chrysalis is definitely good for a little early game bonus in both health and then AP. Still, I do not believe it is a worthy contender against Conditioning and Second Wind for tank Galio top lane.

Overgrowth is a very slow-stacking rune that really pays off in the late game (in my opinion). The bonus health gained from this rune will allow your Shield of Durand to have more magic shielding, and, of course, gives you more health for survivability.

Not much to say here. Revitalize is basically useless on Galio. Don't use it.

Unflinching is alright with me. Galio is slow already, so the extra tenacity sure can help. Keep it as an open option.

Domination

Electrocute is a fantastic rune for burst casters. Galio can use this rune to get bonus damage off his trades with his E Justice Punch > W Shield of Durand > Q Winds of War combo, as well as the passive Colossal Smash bringing in a bunch of damage. Excellent damage capabilities if you're aiming to go more of an AP bruiser type build.

Like I mentioned before, Galio has 3 (potentially 4) movement impairing abilities. The main ones you would use are Shield of Durand and Justice Punch. This rune allows you to get off bonus damage in the form of true damage. Very nice to be able to capitalize on your trades and all-ins.

Not much to say. Pretty much useless on Galio as a whole. Don't use it.

Sudden Impact is a tough contender with Cheap Shot because you can spam your Justice Punch and always have that magic penetration in trades. With that in mind, I believe Sudden Impact is more worthwhile in the early game. Keep this rune as an option. Between Cheap Shot and Sudden Impact is just personal preference.

Zombie Ward is always a solid choice for any laner taking Domination runes. This allows for more vision throughout the game and helps keep you alert for enemy ganks. Since Galio is quite immobile and has only his Justice Punch as a viable escape, Zombie Ward can help quite a lot.

Ghost Poro just isn't useful for Galio. He shouldn't be roaming through jungle very much at all. Definitely not as useful as Zombie Ward.

This is my go-to for Domination on Galio. This helps build much-needed damage in a tank build and can help you be more than just a damage sponge in the mid to late game. Definitely take this if you feel comfortable with a little less vision.

Honestly, Ravenous Hunter is hard to form an opinion on for Galio. It's good healing for your Winds of War, but otherwise not very useful. Although you will heal from all your damage dealt with your abilities. Although it might not be too much healing on other abilities, it is still healing. That's why I believe Ravenous Hunter is a viable option on Galio.

No. If you're going for support items (which you shouldn't really build if you're going for damage), then sure take Ingenious Hunter. But no, don't take this.

Relentless Hunter is good for roaming down to mid and disengaging from fights if you can get out of range of the enemy. It's a viable option, keep it open for consideration.

Basically, it's the old Ultimate Hat. With Hero's Entrance having such a high cooldown time, this rune is sure useful. If you're taking domination runes, make sure Ultimate Hunter is included.

Sorcery

Let's be honest here... Summon Aery is just OP. Taking this assures the extra damage dealt from your abilities & basic attacks. Arcane Comet does deal more damage, but the enemy can dodge it.

Okay, if you want to go completely magic-resistant in your game, take Nullifying Orb. It sure is good against full AP teams, but it's a little overkill on Galio and just isn't as good of a pick as the other runes.

Manaflow Band is my definite go-to for top lane. This grants you much more sustain in lane because you won't be dying of mana deprivation 2 minutes into the game. Not only is it good early game, but it allows a larger mana pool and more mana sustain when you complete the quest.

Personally, I don't find this rune very useful on Galio. He doesn't need the movement speed, and it's not like Celerity combo with Nimbus Cloak would do much anyways. Don't take this rune on Galio.

Transcendence just isn't useful for Galio. Yes, it will give you an extra 10% cooldown reduction once you hit level 10, but compared to your other options, this just is not a strong enough rune to compete with them. Transcendence is out.

Celerity just is not useful on Galio, either. Yes, while Galio can use the extra movement speed (because he's a slow, towering colossus), it just will never reach its full potential on Galio.

This rune should really be your only option for Galio top lane. Absolute Focus gives you bonus AP while your health remains high. This is very useful because of your Shield of Durand passive letting you tank magic damage, thus allowing you to keep Absolute Focus's bonus for longer against AP opponents. Nevertheless, the additional AP given by this rune is a nice little boost to the damage Galio needs. Take Absolute Focus for this rune slot.

Scorch is a fantastic rune for any champion that pokes a lot with their abilities. Galio's Winds of War sure do a lot of poke damage. Add Summon Aery and Scorch into the mix and you're going to be winning 9 out of 10 trades, or just getting off a ton of free poke damage. Scorch can help a lot to pressure your opponent in lane, but it's a very specific rune for early game only. Take this if you're against an enemy top laner who thrives in the late game so you can deny their early game and keep them from snowballing hard.

Not much to say. Waterwalking just is not incredibly useful on Galio. Sure, it's viable, but it can't compare to the other options' values. This one's out.

Gathering Storm is my absolute go-to for Galio. This rune allows tanks to passively stack damage throughout the game's duration. Full tank Galio definitely lacks damage in the late game. Gathering Storm can help negate this lack of damage and help secure kills and wins later in the game.

Flash is essential on most champions in the game. There is no difference with Galio. Your flash can be used to make some clutch plays and/or escape with your life.

Teleport is great for getting back to lane early so you don't miss farm and helping your team in fights when you're across the map. A top laner's go-to.

If you're wanting to go for more of a damage build and try to kill your enemy laner quick in the early game, take Ignite. Be cautious with this pick, as you will be left quite immobile without Teleport. Ignite is an aggressive pick and you should be positive you can get the kills with it if you take it.

This is my usual ability sequence for Galio. This sequence assumes that you have a good matchup and the enemy team is a lot of magic damage. Remember to always level up your Hero's Entrance whenever available (levels 6, 11, and 16). I start with 3 points into Winds of War because it is the main damage/poke for him. It also puts it at a solid 100 mana cost and 9 second cooldown. After that, I max Shield of Durand next. This helps build the magic shield to allow you to take more damage from magic enemies. Also, while activated, it gives you huge amounts of damage reduction so you can survive more damage and be a sponge for your team. Next, Justice Punch is maxed for the extra damage and cooldown reduction. Finally, finish Winds of War to top off its damage.

Alternatively, you may be in a bad matchup with Galio or you're going for a damage build. If this is the case, follow this ability sequence instead:
With this sequence, you are maxing your damaging/poke abilities first so you can deal the most damage to your opponents. Remember to take Hero's Entrance at levels 6, 11, and 16. If you find yourself dying a bunch, try maxing Shield of Durand wherever you are in the sequence. This may give you more survivability. Or you can hold out and keep building your items.

Starting Items

These are the generic starters for Galio top. Health Potion gives you healing to stay in lane for longer, Doran's Shield gives extra health and health regen to let you sustain in lane.

Corrupting Potion is for more of an aggro/poking damage-type build. Allows health and and mana regen along with a burn effect for your damaging attacks and abilities while active.

Boots

Take these if the enemy team's main damage comes from basic attacks or physical damage. Otherwise, take Mercury's Treads.

Take these against teams with magic damage and/or high amounts of CC. These should be your default go-to boots for Galio.

Damage Options

I believe this should be taken a vast majority of times on any matchup with Galio. You want to get it early so it can build its stacks as soon as possible. It gives you good amounts of health, mana, and ability power for a reasonable price. All of these help Galio very much. Don't take this if you plan on doing minimal damage and going full tank, but I highly recommend it every time.

Pretty self-explanatory. Gives bonus health, AP, and you gain the passive to slow enemies with your abilities. Always a solid choice for more AP damage on Galio.

This is more for a strictly AP build. The magic resist and ability power are both good to give Galio more damage. The passive blocks the first enemy ability every 40 seconds. Just more magic eating power.

This is kind of a situational item in the way where, if you are going for more a squishy damage-type build, Zhonya's Hourglass can really come in handy. It can save your life and set up the enemy for a follow up attack from your team. Don't take this if you are going for a tanky build.

Experimental/Incredibly Situational

I know what you might be thinking: "Why would I ever build this item on Galio?" Well, normally I wouldn't recommended it. But, if you're just completely smashing lane and you're getting super fed, build Trinity Force. All of the bonus stats and passives give you a definite edge over your enemies. This would be for a bruiser-type build. Very situational, but keep it in the back of your head.

Another situational item, Maw of Malmortius allows a bit extra damage from your basic attacks and builds more magic resist. Incredibly situational. Really just if the enemy team is full AP and you're looking to do more damage with Colossal Smash.

This gives you bonus tenacity and a shield when you take too much burst damage. Also gives bonus AD and HP.

Armor Options

Great choice for Galio if there's a pesky ADC on the enemy team. Cheap price, easy to build, and gives great benefits for a champion like Galio. In most cases and good matchups with Galio, this will be the only armor item you need (if you need any). Great amounts of armor, mana, and cooldown reduction. Additionally, the passive helps out incredibly in team fights.

Similar to Frozen Heart, Iceborn Gauntlet gives great stats for a reasonable price. Not only are the stats nice, but the passive combos fantastic with Galio. Your poke and Colossal Smash damage (after using an ability) is great.

Ahh, Randuin's Omen... every ADC's worst nightmare. This is a great option to help deal with fed ADCs and Yasuos. Any physical damage champion who crits a lot can be countered with a Randuin's Omen. The active also allows you to slow the movement of nearby enemies, thus allowing you to catch those pesky enemies and keep them from kiting you to eternity.

Sunfire Aegis allows your wave clear to be increased substantially. It also gives Galio a persistent damage output with the passive. Using Shield of Durand allows you to bring people back into Sunfire Aegis's range. Very useful for Galio since his waveclear is lacking.

Always a solid choice whenever your team needs grievous wounds to help solve the healing crisis on the enemy team. Also, the damage and reduced attack speed to attacking enemies is very handy.

I. EAT. MAAGGIC.

Great stats for Galio: increased HP, mana, magic resist, and cooldown reduction. Also, the passives give Galio a huge boost during game. You restore mana with damage taken and an aura is put around you where enemies take extra magic damage. This item is essential for Galio.

This item is very useful against persistent magic damage, such as Teemo and Singed. The base stats are also very useful on Galio.

A great item in a very useful spot, Spirit Visage gives great base stats and allows for more healing with its unique passive. Always a viable option with any healing champion on your team.

Situational Items

Great base stats to help with the tanky build. Also, the unique active allows for bonus split pushing/siege capabilities. It can create extra pressure in a lane with the bonus minions being spawned. They deal massive, consistent damage to enemy structures.

A fantastice team fighting, damage sponge item. Gargoyle Stoneplate will allow you to be the best frontline you can be in a team fight. Just take note that when you activate this item, your damage output will be significantly reduced, so be cautious with that.

This will be for the giant bonus in health and out-of-combat health regeneration. Warmog's Armor is a sistuational item because, ideally, you want to build magic resist mainly on Galio. Since this item is always a solid pick on most tanks, I decided to put it on this list.

Use Winds of War sparingly early game. It will drain your mana very fast. Try to let enemy minions get dwindled down by friendly minions and secure the last hit. Galio's basic attacks are very weak, so you'll have to wait for minions to get incredibly low before you hit them. With Colossal Smash, it makes last hitting much easier because of the bonus damage. Be wary, though, for the area of effect damage can cause you to miss enemy minions in close proximity to the one you targeted.

Later in the match, it becomes very easy to use Winds of War and Colossal Smash on the ranged minions in the back to very quickly clear that wave.

DO NOT use Shield of Durand or Justice Punch to farm minions. These abilities are much too important for Galio to waste on farming minions, plus they do little to no damage to minions. Imagine this: you think you're alone in the top lane farming minions using Winds of War, Justice Punch, and Colossal Smash to farm minions. Lo and behold, an enemy Master Yi appears from nowhere. Now you have no abilities to use on this foe. If you had Justice Punch, you could have stalled and hit Master Yi to wait for your other abilities. But now you're dead because you used it on farming minions. Don't let that happen.