Since you've clicked on this guide, I guess you're here to evaluate my tactics and playstyle as Amumu. Before we get started, I'd like to let you know that while your opinion is valued in the matter, I won't always approve of your comments.

From here on, you will learn of:

• Viable runes. This section represents my own optimal rune page. They're not a must, you can use other rune pages if you wish.
• Masteries. I will give you only offensive masteries, as those benefit Amumu the most. It's up to you to choose either 21/9/0 or 21/0/9.
• Pros / Cons. Before we go to in-game matters, I'd like to share these with you, as they give more insight to playing with Amumu.
• Abilities. You probably already know Amumu's abilities, but since we have new players, I will explain abilities in common knowledge.
• Orded or maxing. I'll further explain, why you should take points to certain abilities at certain levels. Bear in mind that ability maxing must sometimes adapt to the situation.
• Items. Finally the grand reason for guides, itemization. In order to succeed with this champion, you have to learn which items to build in different games.
• Synergy. Amumu, like anyone else, can only do so much by himself and needs his teammates. This section explains the champions that Amumu works greatly with.
• Game phases. This section explains what you should do while you're battling in different phases of your game.
  Subcategory: Warding
  Subcategory: Jungle route
  Subcategory: Ganking
• Notable enemies. There are some champions whom you should be aware of. This section covers kit-counters and high-threat counter-junglers.
• Copyrights. Some of the material on this guide is copyrighted and I cannot claim any credit for this material. This section names out all the respective owners of such material on this guide.

This is the rune page I use the most. This is the result of testing numerous different rune pages, and while regular pages I've seen on the internet seemed to work decently, this one serves Amumu's weaknesses and strenghts the most. These runes are fairly expensive though and you might want to use some other ones. Incase you're not using Tier-3 runes you don't want to use spell vamp quintessences, better go with flat AP.





I usually have 21/9/0 for jungling, because defense tree effects are better than mana regen and some extra gain from Health Potions and biscuits. If you think you don't need extra defenses and health, and want to clear camps faster because the enemy team is squishy and you simply want to level up to win the game; choose 21/0/9. Some of these masteries are replacable by others, and some of them don't feel necessary to Amumu's kit. I've chosen these runes due to multiple tests and while some of them have low use, you either need them to climb up to the next tier on the tree, or they're obviously better choices than other masteries on that tier.

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OFFENSE TREE Tier 1 - Sorcery For CDR which allows Amumu to spam Tantrum even more. This is crucial because Tantrum is Amumu's main damage source. Tier 2 - Expose Weakness When you gank, your allied laner deals more damage. Mental Force Grant's more ability power. Tier 3 - Arcane Mastery For flat AP. Executioner Your continuous damage will be increased when an opponent hits lower health percentage. Tier 4 - Archmage For even more AP, this is a partial Rabadon's Deathcap passive which is useful as you won't be using the item itself. Dangerous Game This can restore your health and mana in the middle of a teamfight, you should always choose it. Tier 5 - Devastating Strikes Allows you to penetrate a percentage of the enemy defenses. Arcane Blade For more AA damage, which is great against jungle camps. Tier 6 - Havoc More damage in general, which is always great.

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DEFENSE TREE Tier 1 - Block To climb up the tree, you can choose Tough Skin instead. Recovery Gives more health regen to sustain yourself. Enchanted Armor For extra defenses. Tier 2 - Veteran Scars This gives you more health which is useful very early on. Tier 3 - Juggernaut Much like the previous mastery, this gives you health. However, this will add up greatly to your late game, too.

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UTILITY TREE Tier 1 - Phasewalker Allows you to shorten recall by 1 seconds. Meditation Some mana regen so you can sustain your mana pool decently even without blue buff. Tier 2 - Summoner's Insight Reduces summoner spell cooldowns, and allows you to cast Smite even more frequently. Alchemist Allows you to gain an extra 15 HP from Health Potion and Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation. Tier 3 - Culinary Master Increases HP gain from Health Potions even more, and also gives you an extra 10 Mana.

Looking at Amumu's strenghts and weaknesses, you can't help noticing the monster he is in mid-late game. Amumu's weaknesses all surround his early game success. If Amumu should for, one reason or another, get counter-jungled hard, have his blue buff denied or if the lanes he's supposed to gank become overly powerful, he will fall behind and it will surely affect his late game. However, if Amumu helps lanes and can even counterjungle himself; he will eventually be able to carry mid-late game even harder than just his kit already allows him to. He has efficient ganks, but have to know how to use his kit to his advantage, warding his own jungle can also be helpful against counter-junglers.

+ Decent clear time + Efficient ganks + Lot's of CC + High AoE damage + Can be tanky without losing damage output + Free Abyssal Mask passive.

- Dependant on Blue Buff - Cannot escape in early game - Squishy early game - High cooldown on Curse of the Sad Mummy - Bandage Toss takes practise.

All of this information can be found from the champion description, in the League of Legends client itself. This section is for new players and most of the advanced players already know all of this. In order to have a more in-depth look at these abilities, look at the "Don't Feed Amumu" champion spotlight by Ciderhelm. The youtube player for this video is provided at the end of this section.

Passive: Cursed Touch
Amumu's attacks reduce the target's Magic Resistance for a short duration.
Mana cost: None
Default Q: Bandage Toss
Amumu tosses a sticky bandage at a target, stunning and damaging the target while he pulls himself to them.
Mana cost: 80/90/100/110/120
Default W: Despair
Overcome by anguish, nearby enemies lose a percentage of their maximum health each second
Mana cost: 8 per seconds at all levels.
Default E: Tantrum
Permanently reduces the physical damage Amumu would take. Amymy can unleash his rage, dealing damage to surrounding enemies. Each time Amumu is hit, the cooldown on tantrum is reduced by 0.5 seconds.
Mana cost: 35 at all levels.
Default R: Curse of the Sad Mummy
Amumu entangles surrounding enemy units in bandages, damaging them and rendering them unable to attack or move.
Mana cost: 100/150/200

While taking up points on your abilities, you want to focus on some general reasonings. First, look on the cooldown on the ability. If the cooldowns are too high you won't be using it as much, which means you will deal less damage with it than you would with a lower scaling ability that has remarkably lower cooldown. Second, you need to know whether the ability drains too much of your mana or not. Third, you need to look at the scaling, if your ability scales by a low percentage, it will be most useful in late game, when you will have more AP. If the ability scales of a high percentage, it's more useful to max it first to get the most out of it.
Sidenote: These reasons do not apply to all champions and are meant for this guide only.


Maxed 1st: Tantrum
Take points at levels: 1/4/5/7/9
This is your main damage and clearing ability. You should always take it first instead of Despair. Even though it has a 10 second cooldown at level 1, you get to use it around 2-4 times because everytime the monsters on the camp hit you, the cooldown is reduced. The passive also allows you to reduce physical damage taken from enemy attacks. All in all, it's the most beneficial ability to max first.
Maxed 2nd: Bandage Toss
Take points at levels: 3/8/10/12/13
This is your main initiating ability, and also the highest scaling ability (after your ultimate) in your kit. You should definitely max this second because you will almost certainly need to use it in skirmishes; whether it's to catch an opponent or to briefly disable an engaging enemy, you will always need this. Don't forget the long cooldown, use it wisely and you shall be praised.
Maxed 3rd: Curse of the Sad Mummy
Take points at levels: 6/11/16
Being your ultimate, this ability also has a long cooldown. It's an AoE nuke ability that disables everyone in it's range. This will also deal tons of damage to enemies from early to mid game, and when you reach late game it will be more of a CC ability. You should take a point to this ability whenever you're given the opportunity to do it.
Maxed 4th: Despair
Take points at levels: 2/14/15/17/18
This ability is maxed last, but you shouldn't keep it useless. There are people who prefer to max this second instead of Bandage Toss, but this is stupid for 2 reasons. First off; Despair drains your mana, at early levels your mana pool is remarkably low and without blue buff you will soon run out of mana and get the need to go back. Secondly; The ability scales extra 1% for every 100 AP, which means it'd be way more effective if you were actually building damage.

Start

The standard start for any jungler with no immense sustain in early game. Hunter's Machete later on upgrades into one of the spirit items. 5x Health Potions will sustain you through the first time you clear the jungle, and most likely allow you to gank once or twice before going back.

Situational

This is an alternative start for more advanced players, usually doesn't work in SoloQ as it requires more than just blue leash from your team. The Health Potions will still sustain you the same amount with the spellvamp quints, once through the jungle and a maximum of two ganks. This will benefit you more if you gank early, however it doesn't build into items and will therefore hurt you in the long run.

Early

For more sustain in the jungle without spending all your gold on potions, you need to get Spirit Stone. Consider this the item you have to get before going back. Also pick up boots if you have the gold for it, this will increase your ganking potential.

Choose one

This item gives you an extra damage boost, which will increase your clearing time and help you deal more damage when ganking. You should pick this item over the other spirit item incase the enemies are very squishy in early game, and especially when they have weak early game, I prefer this over the other spirit items.

This item on the other hand will give you more health. This will help you sustain more damage and obviously make you more tanky in the process. Your goal when ganking the lane is of course taking the aggro, and therefore you want to be able to survive it. Good item if enemies deal high damage in early game.

Core items

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Building these items is your main goal in the middle game. Sunfire should be started with an early Giant's Belt and after that you should go straight for the Haunting Guise. Before finishing either item, you can upgrade your boots to Sorcerer's Shoes for magic penetration, and then move on to Sunfire Aegis. You should always finish Sunfire Aegis before Liandry's Torment as it's at it's most effective in the early game. Afterwards you will be finishing your Liandry's Torment for the extra damage.

Alternatives

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AND / OR

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You can choose to build Mobility Boots instead of the standard magic penetration boots; incase you need more movement speed to keep up to the enemies when ganking. Incase you don't need more movement speed or magic penetration you can choose to build Ninja Tabi to tank more damage from AA's. Also, if the enemies are stacking magic resist, or if you can safely assume that they will be stacking magic resist; you should build Void Staff instead of Liandry's Torment in order to penetrate those defenses. By doing this, take in note that you're sacrificing some health for damage.