(This is also an very good build for ranked games)

Pro's:

No need to port home, ever. Not for you or your laning partner.
Your heals can keep another hero alive for about anything.
Great stunner.
Great armor reduction.
Best support hero for ganks.
Can easily survive 2v1 later on, death is not an option.

Con's:

Cannot carry (mid lane).
Gold issues throughout most of the game.
Rarely gets kills - even though you badly need them.

Ability's:

Gemcraft - Taric loves to socket magical gems into all of his weapons, resulting in his melee attacks replenishing his mana for 7.5% of damage dealt.

CD: 0/0/0/0/0
Mana cost: 0/0/0/0/0
Range: 0

This is your passive, it is extraordinairly great. There's nothing else to say, really.

Imbue - Taric brings forth earthen energy to heal his target. As the magic flows through him he is healed for the same amount. If Taric heals only himself, the total effect will be 1.4X the base heal amount.

Taric brings forth earthen energy to heal a nearby ally and himself for 100/150/200/250/300 (+0.9). If Taric heals only himself, the heal will be 40% more effective. Melee attacks on enemies decrease this spell's cooldown by 2 seconds per hit.

CD: 16/15/14/13/12
Mana cost: 70/85/100/115/130
Range: 625

Imbue is OP. It might not heal for much in the beginning, but with some AP you'll be able to outheal most hero's ultimates, its really good for countering what ever they throw at you - and its reduced by 2 seconds each time you do a melee hit! Its incredible!

Shatter - Taric is protected by a hardening aura, increasing the armor of himself and nearby allied champions. He may choose to splinter the enchanted rocks surrounding him to deal damage and decrease the armor of nearby enemies at the cost of the aura for a short time.

Passive: Taric's gains 10/15/20/25/30 bonus armor and provides an aura that increases the armor of himself and nearby allies by 10/15/20/25/30.

Active: Taric deals 100/150/200/250/300 (+0.5) magic damage to nearby enemies and decreases their armor by 10/15/20/25/30 for 4 seconds. The aura portion of his passive is not in effect during the cooldown.

CD: 16/16/16/16/16
Mana cost: 50/60/70/80/90
Range: 400

Shatter is a great aura, but its also a great ganking tool - espicially if your team consist mainly of melee champions. The armor reduction can easily give you 20-30 additional damage, and this counts for every hero doing auto attack / melee ability's!

Dazzle - Taric emits a brilliant ball of prismatic light from his gemmed shield, stunning and damaging his enemies.

Taric fires a sphere of prismatic light at an enemy, dealing 20/40/60/80/100 - 80/160/240/320/400 (+1) magic damage (lower damage the further the target is), and stunning them for 1 - 2 seconds (higher stun the further the target is).

CD: 14/13/12/11/10
Mana cost: 95/95/95/95/95
Range: 650

Always, and I mean _always_ go for this first, at level 1 its more useful than Imbue, both for fights and to get out alive. Make sure that if you are going to use it for ganks, then you have to be at maximum distance, so it'll stun the longest. You're not supposed to be the one dealing all the damage - remember?

Radiance - Taric emits a brilliant light, healing himself and increasing physical damage for surrounding allied units.

Toggle: Taric emits brilliant light, healing himself for 30/40/50 (+0.2) a second and increasing his and nearby allies' attack damage by 30/60/90 (half effect for nearby allied champions). The cost to sustain Radiance increases by 4/7/10 each second.

CD: 20/20/20
Mana cost: 20/20/20 Initial Mana Cost
Range: 550

One of the greatest ability's of all time. Using this + Shatter Active in team fights will easily get your team the victory you want. It is _very_ mana consuming, but its usually not up for more than 5-10 seconds, by then you got atleast 1, usually 2 champion kills. This ability is also great for tower pushing, since the damage effect does the same for you and your allies. But be aware, don't burn this on creep waves, its not worth it. 1 creep wave with this up and you'll easily have burned 50%-100% of your mana, meaning you have to port home and regen, I see this happen quiet often - and it saddens me, really.

Summoner spells:

Clarity - Restores 100 + 25 x level mana to your champion and 50% (100% if improved) of that to nearby allies.
CD:
I _always_ have this spell for Taric, if you lane with a ranged such as Malzahar or a melee such as Pantheon you can keep going til' you've pushed 1, sometimes 2, towers without worry.

Clairvoyance - Reveals an area of the map for 6 (10 if improved) seconds (castable anywhere).
CD: 55 seconds (50 if improved and 40 with 21 in Utility)
I usually go for this when playing Taric, its a great measure to find your enemy's and destroy them without them knowing how you do it. With a low cd of 40 seconds you can use this to spot brushes and see where missing hero's went.

Ghost - Your champion ignores unit collision and moves 32% (40% if improved) faster for 14 (15.5 if improved) seconds.
CD: 205 (178 if you have 21 in Utility) seconds.
If I dont go for Clairvoyance I take this, its great to get up to allies for quick support. You'll be able to run from lane to lane with this ability and Boots of Mobility in a matter of seconds. If I choose Ghost instead of Claivoyance I move the 1 point in improved Clairvoyance into improved Ghost.

Teleport - After 4 (3.5 if improved) seconds, teleports your champion to a target friendly minion or turret.
CD:
I rarely go for this, even in 5s - I don't find it needed with Boots of Mobility. It can be used if you think its a better choice than those above, even tho' I'd disagree, but really - its a matter of oppinion.

Items:

Start out by getting Sapphire Crystal and 2 health pots (or 1 health pot & 1 mana pot - depends on opponents). This'll give you a good start with enough mana to survive in lanes to atleast level 6. By then you should have enough gold to advance your Sapphire Crystal into a Tear of the Goddess & get a pair of Boots of Speed.
Start laning with your partner and push the tower, once it is down - head directly to the other lane and take out the tower there. Go back and get Archangel's Staff & if posible Boots of Mobility. From here on out, the item build is really what you deem needed - I sometimes switch out Innervating Locket for Nashor's Tooth. It is really up to you.

Runes:

My rune build is one of many, it is what I find to be the best for when I support. Again, if you do not like it - use whichever you find to be the best working for you. (Thats one of the great things, Taric is not that dependant on runes :))

Tips:

You should often be the initiater. Throw a stun and watch them squeel. Your teammates should easily be able to take out squishy champions right after you stun them, and if you don't get a kill - do not chase them. They'll come back, and you'll be higher level by then - so no worry! :)

If you get into a 2vYou situation, dont be alarmed, pop Radiance (cause it heals you) and run away, every now and then, stun whichever hero is nearest to you and cast a heal - then start running again. You can easily survive, if you're not too cocky ;)

Early game:

You'll have stun, heal and aura pretty quickly, none of it will be as strong as you want, but no worry - your main thing here is to keep stunning your opponents, and keeping an eye out for your partners health. Heal him / her when ever needed. Before you get Radiance kills might not be as easy, don't ever try to gank at a tower, you _CANNOT_ outheal them, and I say it like that cause I see a bunch of Tarics charge past towers, hitting their opponents cause: "OH LOL, I HAVE HEAL.", it does _not_ work that powerful yet. So be a bit careful :)

Mid game:

You have Radiance and you should have your Archangel's Staff and Boots of Mobility by now. This means you can run around the map, being in every fight that arises. You'll easily end up being the one your opponents go for first, this happens quiet a lot for me - but again, don't worry. As long as your teammates got your back theres no need to flee. Your heals at this point should be fairly good, you should be able to outheal auto attack without having to think twice - just keep in mind, the more healing you need to do the more often you have to be hitting them, so don't be shy - keep in the fight! You are afterall a paladin :D

Late game:

Who ever is your carry should be so over geared and fed by now that you can start focusing on taking out turrets, neutral bosses & inhibitors - which is great. I recommend that you stay with a tank, the two of you will never end up being in a situation you can't get out of. It happens often enough that when I play with my Garren playing friend, we see people running off when we've withstood all their attacks for a few minutes - this leaves you and your tank to do what ever pleases you.

Guide to Taric - The Gem Knight
This is my personal guide to Taric, prepare to be enlightened!
Last Updated: 03.Mars.2011

Taric is a bulky support who focuses on healing and taking down turrets. When playing him you might have gotten oom, instantly killed in ganks or teamfights, and maybe failed to keep your team alive with Imbue. This guide will focus on these points to help you become a successful Taric; Being able to keep your team alive, survive in teamfights and ganks, and still have the mana to take down a turret. You do however, need a carry to compensate for your lategame.

Abbreviated Terms
AA = Auto-attack (Basic Attacks)
CC = Crowd Control (Stun, fear, slow, snare, etc)
FB = First Blood
AP = Ability Power
AD = Attack Damage
MD = Magic Damage
AS = Attack Speed
MS = Movement Speed
MR = Magic Resistance
ArPen = Armor Penetration
MPen = Magic Penetration
LS = Life Steal
SV = Spell Vamp
DPS = Strong Auto-attacker
MDPS = Strong spells; casters
CDR = Cooldown Reduction
OOM = Out of Mana
MP = Mana
HP = Health
RHE = Reduced Healing Effect
MP Regen = Mana Regeneration per 5 seconds
HP Regen = Health Regeneration per 5 seconds

Hey guys, I'm back with Taric after doing some theory-crafting and testing. First of all, Taric is a champion who focuses on five things: Mana and Survivability are primary, without them you are worthless. AP and Cooldown Reduction will allow you to heal more, thus making you able to keep your team alive. Lastly we have taking down turrets, where attackspeed also decreases the cooldown on Imbue, and combined with damage it gives you more mana back with your passive. Try to keep it professional and have a strong sense of jugdement, you're often the one to decide when your team should open up a fight. Enjoy!

Pros:
1. Babysitter, helps other champions excel.
2. Support, buffs and heals allied champions.
3. Versatile, also able to semi-tank, disrupt, and burst.

Cons:
1. Countered by a common Reduced Healing Effect or CC.
2. Semi-long cooldowns and poor auto-attack DPS.
3. Is at a large disadvantage in teamfights.

Gemcraft
Taric's attacks restore mana equal to 7.5% of the damage dealt.

This gives you reason to auto-attack, it may sound scrubish and risky, but it's not a bad idea to whack minions for mana. The Mana Regeneration itself is not amazing, considering it depends on your Auto-attack DPS. Still good to have when auto-attacking turrets to hold Radiance up.

Imbue
Taric brings forth earthen energy to heal his target. As the magic flows through him he is healed for the same amount. If Taric heals only himself, the total effect will be 1.4X the base heal amount.

Since they nerfed the base healing of Imbue it has been difficult to lane early-game, but I do appreciate the AP ratio. A special note is that auto-attacks do shorten it's cooldown, meaning you should be hitting something for more heals. As for the self-heal of 140%, it's better to heal an ally for utilizing 200% instead.

Shatter
Taric is protected by a hardening aura, increasing the armor of himself and nearby allied champions. He may choose to splinter the enchanted rocks surrounding him to deal damage and decrease the armor of nearby enemies at the cost of the aura for a short time.

The aura has about the range required to auto-attack someone, meaning it's not all that useful as an aura. However it does cover up your normal expenses on armor, whereas the activate gives you some burst damage and reduces your targets armor meaning your allies will hit harder.

Dazzle
Taric emits a brilliant ball of prismatic light from his gemmed shield, stunning and damaging his enemies.

Dazzle is mostly used to open up a gank, interrupt channeling abilities, and catch up or flee from enemies. The target priority is highly essential for you to become good Taric, whereas the distance is more tributal. With the AP ratio and close range stun you can easily hit up to 500 damage.

Radiance
Taric emits a brilliant light, healing himself and increasing physical damage for surrounding allied units.

Radiance primarily has one use; effectively auto-attacking turrets down with your team. It does of course have more utility than that, survival and tanking the turret being one of them. It does come with a hefty price if you keep it on too long; if you get silenced while it's activated, you can say goodbye to half of your initial mana.

Clarity: A unique ability that will greatly benefit people who are new to Taric, I strongly recommend this if requested in premades and is absolutely mandatory if you have a lower summoner level than 30.

Ghost: The speed boost allows you to chase and flee from opponents, or save your allies in a pinch. It's really that little extra for when you really need it, combined with Map awareness you become quite difficult to kill.

Considerable Summoner Spells:

Clairvoyance: This will give your team map awareness, keep in mind vision wins games! It mostly gives you the advantage of scouting and avoid getting juked or flanked. Keep in mind that only one in your team should take this spell.

Exhaust: This can help you gank a target, or save an ally by disabling an AD champion. There are still people who think you should leave it to the carries, I partially agree but you are there to assist your carries so imo the argument is invalid.

Flash: Can replace Ghost at any given moment, if you want it; take it! Flash is very useful to jump over ledges, or mostly just to get away in a pinch. It depends on preference, but it doesn't bug abuse projectiles anymore.

Ignite: You may ask yourself while reviewing the video in the introduction; why did he take Ignite? Now I can't speak for the man himself, but Clairvoyance was already taken by Blitzcrank. It guess it adds up to bursting potential, not really worth it.

Rally: Despite the fact that the cooldown ruins the spell, I did find it hilarious couping it with Radiance. But it no longer heals AoE, neither does Radiance meaning it's not all that viable anymore. Otherwise I wouldn't get it anyway.

Teleport: Can replace Clarity, it gives you more utility in terms of lane presence. Having to walk all the way to the lane is tedious at times, but not game-changing. FYI; I have won games by only using Doran's Ring, go figure.