Welcome to my Bruiser Blitzcrank Guide!

Hey MOBAFIRE Friends! This used to be a Top guide. Now I play him almost solely midlane, because the matchups are a lot easier, although the build is still decent toplane, just a bit harder to have success! Enjoy!

This guide is an ADAPTATION of an S10 MASTER Blitzcrank Top build/playstyle. I myself am not master, but I have watched the twitch streamer MyPrim0 for a large amount of time, who is a Blitzcrank Top main who has hit Master. This guide represents essentially everything I have learned from my own experience as well as watching Prim0's streams and replays. Of course, s11 introduced new items so I've done my best to adjust the build to work with them. You can check out Prim0's channel HERE, however he is currently on break and the time of his return is unknown. If you would like me to ask him a question for you, leave a comment on this guide!

I've stream sometimes! Check out my channel on Twitch @masoncatLoL

Personally, I have played atleast 750 Blitzcrank Mid/top games, so feel free to ask me about matchups or item builds!

Why in the WORLD is this Viable at all?

Although playing Blitzcrank in a solo lane sounds like an absolute int, it definitely is not (as long as you know what you're doing...). The reason Bruiser Blitzcrank is so strong comes from his core items, Trinity Force, Divine Sunderer, and Manamune and Wit's End. These will be explained later, as well as why the optimal rune setups makes Blitzcrank Solo Lane viable.

Runes

Here you can find my reasoning for taking each rune!

Press the Attack is the best option.

Press the Attack is a great rune for letting Blitzcrank deal way more damage than he should. Press the attack allows you to win trades at early levels, which Blitzcrank otherwise fails. The reason press the attack is so strong on Blitzcrank is because of how easy it is to proc with your Power Fist, which should almost always be used as an auto reset.

Triumph is powerful in general. This allows Blitzcrank to have extra survivability against champs with burns/ignite after killing them. It's also great sustain for teamfighting.

Legend: Alacrity is always a good option for AD Blitzcrank. It synergizes with Overdrive so you get a crazy amount of attack speed. It allows Static Field to put more lightning strike stacks out.

Revitalize helps Blitzcrank survive in close fights, which happens often. Revitalize increases Blitzcrank's healing and shielding from items like Divine Sunderer and will also always increase Blitzcrank's Mana Barrier, because it only procs at low HP. Prim0 finds this more useful and safe than any other options.

Unflinching gives Blitzcrank more tenacity to help against his self slow on Overdrive and against CC in general. Revitalize is almost always a better option but if you are scared of hard CC chains then take unflinching.

Second Wind is the best option, because you will almost always take Revitalize which it synergizes with. It provides you with enough sustain to win almost every short trade... Second wind also gives you nice sustain in extended teamfights if you have built a decent amount of health items.

Cheap Shot is one of the best Domination runes for Blitzcrank, because of how much CC he has. This allows him to deal a lot of extra true damage, and especially helps one shotting squishys.

Ultimate Hunter may seem silly, but with this Blitzcrank build you want your Static Field to be up as much as possible. When it is on cooldown, you lose the on-hit passive that provides a lot of extra damage. One part of this playstyle is knowing when to use Static Field as an execute/waveclear or hold on to the extra on-hit power.

Item Build TLDR

You will almost always build Wit's End, Divine Sunderer, or Trinity Force first, prioritizing Sheen. If you rushed Wit's End, build your mythic next. If not, build into Death's Dance or Wit's End based on your lane opponent or the enemy team comp. Manamune 3rd, or if you have so much gold that your tear is not stacked yet build Frozen Heart or DD/WE. Item Choices are explained below.

Item Explanations

Items with defensive stats are preferred because Blitz MUST go melee and he has to not get one shot. Blitzcrank also does not have much of an escape tool, so you want to have at least some survivability while in the frontline of a team fight, or versus assassins.
- Wit's End is what I rush in lane against an AP opponent. It gives you a lot of extra sustained damage and chasing power. The on-hit passive makes your auto attacks do bonus magic damage, so combined with your Static Field on-hit passive your autos will be doing massive AD and AP damage. It can also be built later if the enemy comp has AP outside of mid lane.
- Death's Dance is always a strong option, I plan to build this item almost every game. It gives you great sustain in teamfights and can also help win 1v1s. It also prevents you from getting bursted pretty well, and gives you some nice AD and ability haste.
- Frozen Heart should be built when the enemy team is majority AD, or they have a lot of champions reliant on attack speed ( Master Yi, Jinx, Twitch, Kog'Maw, Warwick, etc.) The cooldown reduction is helpful for blitz and also gives you a lot of mana to boost your damage+shield and a lot of armor.
- Black Cleaver is a good option against tanks. Lategame, it is about the only way you are going to deal any damage to a tank. Cleaver allows you to shred their armor as well as stay on top of them. CDR is also a great stat for Blitzcrank.
- Randuin's Omen is a good buy when you are against 2+ champions with critical strikes, or a very fed Jhin or Caitlyn. Build Randuin's if the enemy ADC is building crit and they have a Graves, Yasuo, Garen or any other champ who is building crit. Most of the time it is not worth it if one of their "crit" champs has 25% or less critical chance. VERY situational, I rarely build this.
- Force of Nature is a great item if you need more magic resist after Wit's End. It lets you survive burst mages and stay alive against AP damage in longer fights, as well as chase enemy mages down.
- Spear of Shojin is a fun item 5th or 6th. It gives you a ton of CDR from your other items letting you CC enemies for WAY too long. The movement speed buff also synergizes with your passive, whether you have to catch up to an enemy in a close fight or escape.
- Anathema's Chains is a super situational 5th or 6th item. If the enemy team is full AP or AD besides one champion, build this and smack it on that lonely mage / marksman. This will allow you to CC them for longer helping your team, and also take less damage from them without building resistance against their damage type.

Early Laning Phase

Early laning phase for Blitzcrank Top sucks versus Ranged matchups, but isn't half bad against Bruisers or Tanks. Ranged matchups will easily kite you at levels 1 and 2, but Blitzcrank is able to make decent trades with most melee matchups early on. Here is a list of everything you need to know to survive early laning phase:
- YOU MUST GET USED TO LAST-HITTING EARLY GAME- in order to scale, you have to farm! Overdrive gives you a ton of bonus damage to minions!
- Buy Cull vs tank matchups- it's really unlikely to get a kill on a tank, so just farm and try to hit your Divine Sunderer item spike ASAP.
- Make sure to ALWAYS use Power Fist as an auto reset, especially when taking Press the Attack.
- If you have a larger minion wave than the opponent and can Rocket Grab them into it and knock them up, the minions will deal a suprising amount of damage to them in early laning phase.
- VS ranged you will not have any kill pressure until your power spikes, and you will usually have to land a Rocket Grab or use Overdrive as a gap closer. However, at level 6, you should be able to all in them easily.
- Boots first vs ranged matchups can be useful for spacing and setting up Rocket Grab angles. (also getting back to lane when you get poked out :])
- Getting an early jungle gank against a ranged matchup will help you win lane.
- The best position for the wave is either a Freeze or somewhere in the middle of the lane- you don't want to be pushed up because Blitzcrank is susceptible to jungle ganks.
- Farming Under Tower: You'll find that you will be doing this ALL THE TIME as Blitzcrank. You can kill tank minions after they take 2 tower shots, you can kill casters after 1 tower shot IF: You have ~20 bonus AD, you have Static Field up and you can proc the On-Hit lightning before a second tower shot, you set up the caster with another auto, or you use your Power Fist or Overdrive. Also get used to using your abilities to secure the cannon.

Power Spikes in Laning Phase

- Blitzcrank Top's most significant power spikes are level 3, level 6, First Item, and Manamune.
- Blitzcrank's level 1 and 2 are suprisingly strong, with his new W buffs. There are several champs Blitz beats that you would not expect! Have fun limit testing :]
- Getting your Rocket Grab at level 3 allows you to hook the enemy behind your minions which can help you win trades harder (IF THEY AUTO YOU AND TAKE MINION AGGRO).
- The level 6 powerspike is obviously strong, as you unlock your Ultimate Static Field.
- Unlike most other champions, your level 6 powerspike makes you stronger without actually using your Ultimate.
- Blitzcrank's Ultimate has an on-hit passive which deals extra magic damage to anything you auto. This helps you win trades even harder!
- The Manamune powerspike is strong because it will consistently be stacking mana as you use abilities and use auto attacks. The mana provided will give you extra damage as well as a larger Mana Barrier.
- Sheen is a large powerspike because it gives you a nice damage boost to your Power Fist. It is a strong synergy with your E because both items make your next auto deal extra damage, resulting in a huge damage auto attack.
- Divine Sunderer boosts the power of Sheen and gives several important stats like magic pen and armor pen. The Divine Sunderer + Manamune item set is when you start one shotting squishies! Build Sunderer into tanks and tankier bruisers!
- Trinity Force also boosts the power of Sheen and gives several important stats like attack speed and move speed. Build Trinity against squishys, bruisers, or anything if you plan on split pushing!
- Muramana is a big powerspike because it deals bonus damage based on your mana. The more mana you build, the more powerful it will become.

Mid game is where AD Blitzcrank shines the most, if you are not EXTREMELY behind. His most powerful attributes include: ONE SHOTTING ADCS AND MAGES, GETTING PICKS WITH HOOK, AND WINNING 1V2S IN SIDE LANES. It takes a LOT of limit testing, but AD Blitz can take a lot of fights that seem like he would lose. E with just Triforce/Sunderer + Manamune almost always does over 400 damage. That paired with your Q and R and Press the Attack is an ~1000 damage combo. The MASSIVE passive shield that scales with mana is super clutch for what would have been close fights. Overall, I'd say play ~10-20 norms of AD Blitz to learn the limits- you'll be very suprised, as are my lane opponents when I chunk them with a few autos.
If you go even in lane(or you were a little behind), you will be able to 1v1 the enemy ADC with ease, as long as you can land hook and they do not have strong CC like Ashe R to kite you. Even if they are super fed, your damage from Press the Attack and first 2-3 items will kill them very quickly, and they won't be able to output enough damage to beat you unless they kite you perfectly.
If you go even / have a lead out of laning phase, look to fight fed enemy players. They underestimate Blitzcrank's damage all the time, and you can often collect easy shutdowns.
If you are losing lane, and the opponent freezes, look to get picks to put your team ahead, or even catch up yourself. Try to help your jungler as much as possible, especially during scuttle/objective fights. Your cc helps junglers with high damage output a ton. Blitzcrank's New W does an absurd amount of damage to jungle monsters, as you will find out.

Lategame as bruiser blitz, you can either splitpush or teamfight and look for squishys. If you are ahead, you can draw a lot of pressure because of your 1v2 capability- just be cautious about the locations of the enemy, and make sure you have adequate vision when pushing. If you are not ahead and do not win 1v1 vs the other toplane, you should teamfight. Try to peel for your fed carries (damage midlaners / adc) by hooking opponents away from them or knocking them up before they get on top of your squishies, or go for the enemy carries. If you can hit a hook on a non-tank you and your team can blow them up. Also, use your ult a lot because in the lategame the cooldown is super low so you should use it for almost every kill/fight. If a fed squishy mage or adc is caught out, don't be afraid to flash E-Q-R them to blow them up, and if they live use W to chase. Make sure to put some thought into your 5th and 6th item choices.

Hey everyone! Thanks for checking out my first guide! It is strongly based on MyPrim0’s diamond/master blitzcrank top build. He used to stream on twitch and will hopefully he coming back soon- he has some great clips you can check out though! If anyone has any questions leave a comment and I can ask Prim0 himself for an answer! I will try to keep updating this as often as I can! Thanks for reading and good luck on the rift!