Amumu is an excellent champ. He can take some getting used to, but he is still pretty easy to learn. In this build, Amumu will be built as an AP lane tank. He'll be tanky, but he'll have some nice damage output too. Amumu is a good jungler, but this isn't the build for that.

Pros
Amumu is an excellent initiator with Bandage Tossand Curse of the Sad Mummycombo.
Amumu can deal percent damage with Despair allowing him to kill other tanks.
Amumu is an awesome tank.
Amumu can dive turrets after he gets tanky enough with Bandage Toss
Amumu is a good chaser with Bandage Toss
Amumu is relatively cheap ip wise.

Cons
Amumu is mp dependent especially if you spam your Despairwhich is a toggle skill.
Needs blue buff to keep Despair up. Unfortunately, as the tank you should give your blue buff to other champs on your team (usually an AP carry) who need it more than you such as Karthus or Malzahar.
Amumu is a default ban in ranked games.
Amumu can ks accidentally very easily with Bandage Toss or Despair. Then your teammates will rage at you.
Amumu isn't a great champion until you get to level 6 and get Curse of the Sad Mummy.
Bandage Toss can be difficult to pull off sometimes.
Not as tanky as most Amumus with this guide, but the situational items can cover that.

Recommended summoner spells

Flash is a must on Amumu as it lets you escape and chase. it can let you close in on a champ so you can Bandage Toss. Flash also lets you position yourself for Curse of the Sad Mummy better.


Teleport allows you to give aid to your teammates quickly. It also lets you prevent backdooring.


Exhaust lets you chase better. This way no one can escape your Despair and you'll constantly be stuck to them.

Decent Summoner Spells
Ignite can be used, but your damage is pretty high for a tank already. Let your carry get more kills with this.
Clarity can solve some early game mp issues, but you have greater seals of clarity not to mention Meditation masteries. Furthermore, you have a philosopher's stone, so mp regen isn't a big deal.
Heal can help sometimes. It's just not recommended.
Clairvoyance can give vision for your Bandage Toss into bush.
Ghost Use this if you haven't unlocked Flash yet.
Fortify Protect your turrets. But your Teleport to a turret works just as well.
Cleanse Protect against annoying cc. But chances are, they're not gonna focus you.

Don't use
Revive You're a tank. Don't die so much.
Smite Don't get me wrong. Amumu is a pro jungler. This just isn't a jungling guide.
Rally You're not gonna use this. End of discussion.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration gives you magic pen which lets you dish out some nice damage.

Greater Seal of Armor lets Amumu be tankier. Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration if you want more mp regen.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist if you want to be tankier. Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction if you want cdr, but these are expensive runes and I prefer the magic resist anyways.

Greater Quintessence of Health for bonus health. These are very expensive, so a cheaper alternative is Greater Quintessence of Ability Power for extra damage.

I take 9/0/21. 9/21/0 will work too if you're more interested in defense. In utility, I take the extend neutral monster buff as a kind of filler point. However, it still helps if you get blue buff. I take 9 in offense for the Magic pen. Take Cripple instead of Deadliness if you want Exhaust.

Cursed Touch is Amumu's passive. This lets you shred an opponent's magic resist. This stacks very nicely with Abyssal Mask's aura.


Bandage Toss is Amumu's q. I take one point in this first to help me with first blood. You can also try facechecking with this when the game starts. Warning: you can easily die if you grab onto someone and start getting focused. Flash out if this happens. This skill shot has a long range, but it hits the first target it encounters so it needs good aiming. It's also a rather slow skill shot so it takes getting used to. Using this on an opponent taking turret aggro prevents them from running away from the turret resulting in an easy kill. Use this skill followed by your ult to initiate. I max this last because we already get the cc effect at lvl 1.

Another use of Bandage Toss is to escape. If you're being chased you can grab onto a far away enemy minion to try to put some distance between you and your chasers. Or if you're being chased in the jungle, remember that Bandage Toss can go through walls. As a result you can grab onto a jungle minion and use that to escape.


Despair is Amumu's w. It's a toggle so you can turn it on and off. Keeping it on can drain your mp fast. As a result, try to get blue buff. It lets you spam Despair forever. This skill can commonly ks your allies resulting in them hating you. This skill can deal percent damage, but for it to do so it needs a lot of AP. you're lucky if you can get an extra 2% to the base in a round.


Tantrum is maxed first because it deals good AoE damage and can be spammed if you're getting attacked. This plus Despair lets you clear minion waves very quickly.


Curse of the Sad Mummy makes opposing teams QQ. Its also the reason why we ban amumu on ranked. It's a massive AoE stun perfect for teamfights. It deals damage to everything in its range immediately so you can kill with it as well. You can also use this to escape by using this and Flash while the enemy is stunned. See if you can stun people while they take turret aggro.

This ult can pick up multi kills as the damage is instant. I've picked up triple kills with this baby. (no qudras yet but I'm keeping my fingers crossed). This skill though is mainly for helping your team ace the opponents, so it's far more likely to pick up a bunch of assists. Knowing a good time to use this ult during teamfights can take practice though. Sometimes it's good to wait toward the end of a teamfight to prevent the opponents escaping ro to let your team escape. Sometimes you want to use it immediately to start running away because your team is outnumbered. Knowing when to initiate is important. Remember, you can use Bandage Toss before using Curse of the Sad Mummy.

I grab the Regrowth Pendant 1st plus a Health Potion at the start of the game. You can also use a Mana Potion instead of the hp pot.

philosopher's stone
We build the Regrowth Pendant into the philosopher's stone. This way you get mp regen too and extra gold. Eventually you'll sell this item to make room for another item.


Here's where the controversy starts. People will usually take Ninja Tabi, Mercury's Treads, or Boots of Swiftness. I like Ionian Boots of Lucidity for the cdr. This way Curse of the Sad Mummy can be used more and Bandage Toss can be used more. You missed your 1st bandage toss while chasing? No problem, here's your second shot :D


Now Amumu can really start destroying. The Sunfire Aegis plus Despair let you walk by minions and destroy them. Farming ftw.


Now we can star with some ap for damage. Abyssal Mask works well with your passive and gives magic resist too.


HELLO Banshee's Veil. Now EVEN MORE mr. not to mention blocking one spell. This can save you from Requiem or other annoying spells.


Rylai's Crystal Scepter gives you more ap. Not to mention you can slow them. Three's no escaping Amumu now. Note that it also gives a nice chunk of hp. This item is good but isn't as necessary as the previous core items, so you can replace it with a situational item if you need it. If you don't really need one of the situational items I will mention below, then keep with the Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

You may have noticed that I mentioned selling the philosopher's stone. But if you do this, you have a blank item spot. This 6th item is situational. You can also replace the Rylai's Crystal Scepter Here are some items for consideration


Frozen Heart gives you some cdr and is good against atk speed heavy teams. Solves mana problems too.


Thornmail lets you fight annoying attack speed champs like Master Yi.


Warmog's Armor can be completed pretty quickly considering Amumu's pro farm with Sunfire Aegis, Despair, and tantrum.


Force of Nature is good if your Banshee's Veil and Abyssal Mask don't give enough magic resist. It also gives you movement speed for better chasing. The HP regen is also very good.


Aoe slow and cdr. whats not to like about Randuin's Omen? It's a great tank item. The only reason I put it on situational is because a lot of people forget to use its active, including me. If you never forget about active abilities, then this item is great!


Instead of selling your philosopher's stone, you can upgrade it to Eleisa's Miracle if you're not using Mercury's Treads. The tenacity isn't as good as the treads, but it still helps. Note that tenacity does not stack so either grab the Mercury's Treads and skip the Ionian Boots of Lucidity and Eleisa's Miracle or grab the Ionian Boots of Lucidity plus the Eleisa's Miracle.


Soul Shroud is more of a support item but its mp regen and health are nice on amumu. Gives some nic cdr too.


Guardian Angel is nice because it has good defenses. Use it if you're dying too much.

Shoes
Earlier I mentioned how people like other shoes rather than Ionian Boots of Lucidity.Here I'll explore the other shoes and their pros and cons.


Ninja Tabi aren't great on Amumu because the dodge reduces the effectiveness of Tantrum. If you must use Ninja Tabi obtain the dodge masteries first.


Mercury's Treads are good against cc heavy teams. Use this if you're constantly in danger of being cced.


Boots of Swiftness are good for chasing and closing the gap for bandage toss. these also let you escape better.


Sorcerer's Shoes give you more magic pen. I personally don't take these though because Cursed Touch and Abyssal Mask are enough.

The shoes are really up to you. All of them work (except for Ninja Tabi in my opinion) fine on Amumu.

Here are some scores to prove that an Amumu with this much ap is viable.

All in all, Amumu is a fun tank to play. He can take some getting used to especially his initiation. Knowing when to initiate comes from experience. Practice makes perfect! By the time you get that down, you'll be crying with joy at how good Amumu is.