Before I start with the guide itself, allow me to say that this is my first time writing a guide. So any feedback and/or ways to improve the guides are always welcome.
I've started playing Blitzcrank some time ago and soon found that with my play style the most fitting build would be an AP build on him.

We've all seen people playing Blitz and trying to be tanks (???) and/or going for AD or the most common Hybrid Builds. From what I've seen in early/mid game the way Blitz shines the most is with AP.

Regarding a tank build for Blitz i'd like to say a little something:
Blitz has a few disables (stun, pull, aoe silence) and no taunt. He should not be built to be a main tank in the team. He's a disabler and can pack quite a punch (even tho he usually lacks firepower to finish enemies off). He can also "fish" opponents to start team fights but if you try "tanking" you'll probably end up being nuked too fast.

Another important piece of info is that I play in EU. I've noticed that EU and US playstyles are different so try to keep that in mind.

Latest Revision is valid for patch 1.0.0.123

07-07-2011 v1: Changed some tags, Runes got their own section now. Also started an overhaul of the formatting.
02-06-2011 v1: Added an important warning in the items section (early game).
25-05-2011 v1: Added "Log Examples" section.
23-05-2011 v1: Added an alternative mastery setup.
17-05-2011 v2: Added more info on Summoner Spells section.
17-05-2011 v1: Finished "Playstyle" section. Changed added some advised items.
11-05-2011 v1: Added "Playstyle" section (only "Early Game" section).
10-05-2011 v2: Changed some points in the masteries (Thanks Searz and tinolas)
10-05-2011 v1: Added item/skill images. Added Changelog section.
09-05-2011 v1: Creation of the guide (updated for patch 1.0.0.116)

To-do:
- Improve guide based on feedback;
- Re-do the structure of the guide. Remake each section's layout to make it easier to read;

I usually run with Utility & Offensive runes for a few reasons:

- Blitz's mana is important (because of passive). Utility can help get more mp5 and more mana.
- Cooldown reduction and summoner cooldown reduction's always good.
- Increased XP gains
- Since I usually run an AP build, the 9 points in offense will make me hit harder (and make exhaust quite handy in early game since mres/def is lower)

This setup goes towards survivability. Instead of going all out in offensive points, this build values more survivability in early and in late game.
The utility points are the same as in previous build and should leave no doubts.
I'm keeping 1 point in Cripple due to the harassing potential that exhaust has in early game.
Regarding the defensive tree masteries, we're taking 3/3 points in Resistance (MDef increase) in order to be able to get 3/3 Strength of Spirit. The remaining points will go into 2/3 Hardiness (4 armor).

Having those 3 points in Strength of Spirit will increase your HP regen by a fair amount. We're talking about 20-35 HP5 in mid/late game.


I got used to playing with Flash + Exhaust on Blitzcrank to ensure kills.
- Exhaust is an impressive tool to guarantee kills in early game and in late game it still helps you survive.
- Flash can be used offensively (to get a clean rocket grab shot) or defensively (wall hoping). Personally, I usually keep it available for times of need (emergency escapes).

Other options:
- Ignite isn't my favourite option in blitz but it should be useful for those ganks.
- Cleanse will also save you from enemy ganks. At late game they'll usually have to spam slows and/or stuns to prevent you from running away. Using Cleanse will ensure that you're able to escape with your life.

Not recommended:
- Smite. Even tho you're not very good at early game farming, you'll do great at mid/late game. Smite is pointless.
- Ghost. Seriously? You've got Overdrive and you got the boots (rank 2 speed). Why would you need to run even faster? Wouldn't it be better to flash or cleanse? And if you think this isn't enough speed... something is wrong.

Regarding the skill sequence itself... As you can see on the build I did, the main focus should be getting Rocket Grab maxed up for 2 reasons:
- It doesn't do bad damage;
- It makes you and your lane partner kill people;

Why is Overdrive maxed before Power Fist?
From personal experience, 1 level in Power Fist is usually enough to ensure that they stay quiet taking damage and to ensure interrupts of annoying skills (nunu's ultimate, etc). Getting more levels will only help you spam more and that's really only useful in mid/late game. On the laning phase, the level 1 cooldown should be enough.
Overdrive's speed boost is always good, but not as good as having a higher leveled Rocket Grab.

Your priority should be: Static Field (when available) > Rocket Grab > Overdrive > Power Fist.

Starting items:

Sapphire Crystal + Health Potion + Mana Potion

This should allow you to stay in lane for a while and I usually pick the Sapphire Crystal crystal instead of the Meki Pendant due to Blitz's Passive. If your mana pool is bigger so is your shield Mana Barrier.

The main focus should be getting the Tear of the Goddess so that your mana pool starts increasing with time. It's a cheap and quite effective item for blitzcrank. You should always spam skills whenever you go to base. They should be available again (or almost) when you're reaching your lane again.

After you've completed the Tear of the Goddess, get the Boots. Blitz base speed is low and the increase in mobility will allow you to position yourself better/faster for the always important Rocket Grab.

After the boots, I usually do the Glacial Shroud Glacial Shroud to get some more survivability and to get lower cooldowns. Another option is finishing Sheen instead if you'd rather have more firepower.

WARNING: If you're taking a lot of magic damage and/or the enemy team is heavy in AP, buy a Negatron Cloak as soon as possible. It'll do wonders.
The Mercury's Treads should be bought earlier if you're facing a lot of magical damage and/or a lot of CC

Mid Game:

Once all these 4 items are done ( Tear of the Goddess, Boots, Glacial Shroud & Sheen) you should have a good mana pool (if you've been spamming your skills well) and thus it's a smart option to advance towards Archangel's Staff to increase even further your firepower.

Regarding the next step... The priority between Lich Bane and Frozen Heart is kinda tricky. It varies a lot with the team you're facing and if they are focusing fire on you or not.

Late Game:

I've left the final 2 slots open since I really don't have a "must have" item to place there. The items I pick usually depend on how the game is going, who is my team and who am I fighting against.
Here's some options (in no particular order):

Enemy Casters are annoying you
- Banshee's Veil: The usual anti-caster item. It gives mana (which is great for you) and also gives all that magical defense and the passive effect of canceling one spell. Usually a safe bet.
- Force of Nature: I used to make the Veil every single time. But recently I'm finding that the Force of Nature helps me stay in lane longer due to the regen and that it helps me recover a lot faster from those hard team fights.

You want more firepower:
- Void Staff: Cheap staff, grants you AP and still takes some magic resist out of your enemies... IF they are stacking it.
- Abyssal Mask: Increases your damage via + AP and via -MR for the enemies. Can also be a big benefit for the rest of your team.
- Rabadon's Deathcap: Tried it out not long ago. As the 6th item it held surprisingly good results. I ended up the game with over 600 AP and thus the Static Field was doing A LOT of damage. I advise it if you only want brute firepower it'll definitely boost up your ultimate damage.

Too many AD/Attack Speed enemies:
- Thornmail: I think this is a must when you have a fed AD carry like Ashe going for you every single time. It's a great source of damage return and damage mitigation.
- Randuin's Omen: Good to prevent enemies that attack you from running away. It'll make it easier to do a Rocket Grab, will increase your survivability (HP, HP5 and Armor) and will also help your team gank by slowing enemies.

Early Game

With this build you'll have to be going into a lane with a partner.
Good partners are people who can do a nice damage spike, slow or stun at low levels. A few examples on good lane partners are: Morgana, Tryndamere, Xin Zhao, Lux (amazing slow + snare)

I think you get the point from those champions I've stated. They slow, stun or spike. All that combined with your Rocket Grab and Power Fist should pack some heavy harassment early on.

I always keep moving between creeps trying to get a clear shot line for the Rocket Grab. Even if you can't get a good shot at them, that should harass a bit of their farming potencial. Try to throw a shot now and then to keep them playing defensively and you'll eventually able to do some zoning (they'll think twice before moving forward since you can pull them, disable and then your lane mate can disable again).

Try to use this for your benefit. Since they aren't farming well, they'll eventually get a bit more greedy and end up doing a mistake (which you'll capitalize with your Rocket Grab).
If they outrange you or you're getting harassed, play defensively and use the turrets. Pulling them to take 1-2 tower hits is a good strategy and can quite often ensure kills.

Using Exhaust in early game ganks will do wonders cause of the mastery point you have in Cripple.

If you're able to clear your lane, moving to mid to ensure a gank (tall grass, Overdrive, Power Fist, Rocket Grab - you can also do it grab > fist if you can't get close enough).

Bottomline: Mobility and forcing the enemies to play a bit more defensively is key.

Mid Game

Once the laning phase ends and people starting missing from their lanes, you'll want to do the same.
Keep roaming thro the lanes, assisting in pushes and helping out in ganks. When there's big caster minion waves reaching your towers, use that opportunity to farm some gold (by this time Static Field should clear up the minion wave).
From this phase onward, there's a golden rule that you should never forget: avoid pulling their tank when trying to initiate team fights. It'll only place you in a disadvantage.
You'll want to try to pull their carries and anyone that's squishy.
Also try to keep in mind that once you pull someone, hell will probably break loose. Power Fist and keep the enemy you pulled close to you and your team. It should be enough for them to nuke. If you're getting focused upon, be sure to get some space and fall back. A dead Blitzcrank is useless. Even if you survive with low HP, you can still help your team chase the survivors of the team fight and pull them to your team (thanks to Overdrive and Rocket Grab).

At this point, it's also safe to say that you should focus on improving your resistances (MRes or Armor... depending on what's hurting you the most).
I usually try to have at least 1x Negatron Cloak and 1x Glacial Shroud (it should boost your armor AND your mres over 100 and thus over 50% damage reduction).

Bottomline: Keep good awareness, assist ganks, don't overextend and be careful when initiating team fights. You don't wanna pull the wrong enemy. It's better to wait than pulling an Alistar, Rammus or Galio.

Late Game

The same basics of Mid Game apply with one major difference. If you've been playing "well" and farming decently you should have quite some firepower and a big mana pool (and thus a big Mana Shield). You should keep acting as before on the team fights but you'll be able to withstand a bit more of punishing. During teamfights, you can also try to disrupt their team. Rocket Grab goes through walls. Keep that in mind. You can easily make 1 enemy split away from the rest of the team and thus lower their damage capacity for that fight.
Pulling a tank through a wall and/or out of a fight is usually the only situation in which it's a good choice to pull.
For example, if you're able to pull Alistar through a wall and bring him out of the fight, the enemy team will lose healings, stuns AND those annoying knockbacks. At this point you can also easily stall Alistar for quite some time (due to the low cooldowns on Power Fist and Rocket Grab).

Bottomline: Keep the same playstyle as in mid game. You're a great initiator and you're able to cause a big deal of disruption on team fights by pulling key elements of the enemy team out of the team fight.

Important Notes

• Always keep an eye out for mana shield cooldown;
• 90% of the times, you should NOT pull the enemy tank in team fights;
• Your mobility is high, don't be afraid to spam Overdrive (during mid/late game);
• Calculating your "hp" as your HP + Mana Shield can sometimes go bad (early game vs Tryndamere for example) but it's usually a good way to bait enemies into jumping to you or to bait them to tower dive.
• Keep in mind that your Mana Shield will only activate when you're under 20% HP. If you go down from 25% to 0%, the shield won't activate ( Tryndamere again - damn his crits).
• Towers are your friends, so is Rocket Grab + Power Fist. Try to combo up the three things together.
• Your Rocket Grab will also pull stealthed units but it won't unstealth them (except Teemo Camouflage. Keep that in mind.

Leaving here some examples for the record and so that people can see the results I usually get with this build.

Ranked - Solo Queue 5v5:
2011-05-28 - 10/3/21 - Win
2011-05-28 - 5/3/11 - Win
2011-05-28 - 4/1/3 - Win
2011-05-28 - 2/8/5 - Loss
2011-05-28 - 10/7/16 - Loss
2011-05-25 - 3/2/11 - Win
2011-05-24 - 6/2/14 - Win
2011-05-23 - 14/6/18 - Win
2011-05-23 - 7/4/10 - Win
2011-05-23 - 7/6/7 - Loss

Normal - 5v5:
2011-05-24 - 24/5/19 - Win
2011-05-20 - 8/4/4 - Win

And this pretty much sums up my first guide. As I mentioned in the intro, any comments are welcome.

This is still a work in progress and was written "in a rush" so I'll try to complete it a bit more whenever I can.

Thanks for reading the guide