Blitzcrank Build Guide by JAYZORZ

Introduction

Hey guys, a guide I thought I already published but apparently I didn't. Hope it helps you, as Blitzcrank was my main for a long period of time, until I started playing mid lane dominantly, particularly with my ranked teams.

Blitzcrank is a very versatile champion, and he can be built as a top lane bruiser, ap mid, ganking jungler or support.

This guide features Blitzcrank in the supporting role, as I regard this as his most intuitive role. He may lack the heals of Soraka, Sona or even Alistar but his ability to reposition the enemy team and mitigate damage whilst supplying free peel for the carry is something to behold.

He is a support that opens up many options, as long as you play smart you can very quickly snowball your lane to the point that the game may be determined, but it does depend on teamwork as well as the combination you use and the enemy champion.

It will also mention him as a bruiser, but this build can and WAS used significantly as a support in days gone by.


For help with combinations and advanced synergistic tactics, check out my other guide- Bot Lane Combinations

Runes- Standard

For runes, I am to increase my early game damage and survivability whilst enabling ample opportunities to kill and ensuring I am able to scale to late game.

To aid in the damage aspect, I grab Greater Mark of Attack Damage as it synergises well with Power Fist.

For survivability I grab Greater Seal of Armor as I need to defend fromphysical damage not magic damage.

Greater Glyph of replenishment aids in ensuring I also am 'mana'd up' so to enable any opportunity that arises to be taken.

Greater Quintessence of Gold sets me up for late game if I am unable to snowball if I don't get assists, as I don't farm and as such would otherwise not have too much money.

If I am in a duo-queue and feel that we can easily kill the other lane and snowball, I often take Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed to enable catch up kills.


Greater seals of avarice and Greater Mark of Armor are also good choices if you aren't likely to get a lot of kills and Greater Glyph of Magic Resist could be useful vsing someone with a lot of magic damage (such as Sona).

Masteries

The main sets of masteries I use for supports are any of:

1/17/12
0/9/21
9/9/12

For Blitzcrank, I run the latter as he is an offensive tank that is quite item dependent late game so to be able to tank.

OFFENSE TREE
Summoner's Wrath improves exhaust, making kills far easier while the spell is up.
Weapon Expertise enables to deal significant damage early, but does become less useful as the game goes on unless you build damage.

DEFENSE TREE
Hardiness increases my armour to mitigate the enemy team's carries damage.
Veteran's Scars is a great single point mastery.

UTILITY TREE
Summoner's Insight lowers the cooldown of Flash.
Swiftness enables easier catch-up kills.
Greed scales to late game well.

Items- Standard

Starting Faerie Charm, 3 sight wards and 2 Health Potions is a very standard support start. It enables a very quick Philosopher's Stone for gold income. After this Boots of Speed and a Heart of Gold will continue to provide gold for you.

Upgrade boots to whatever you need ( Ninja Tabi, Mercury's Treads or Boots of Mobility)

Here, if the jungler is not going to build one, you should probably build an Aegis of the Legion but not if your jungler is building one.

Grabbing a Glacial Shroud for mana for your Mana Barrier, cooldown reduction and armour. An Oracle's Elixir can clear enemy vision, and then a Shurelya's Reverie for chasing, catching and escaping power to protect your oracles.

Negatron Cloak covers your weakness, and then an early Frozen Heart helps your team significantly. Banshee's Veil makes you have extra utility and defense.

Finishing with a Randuin's Omen rounds up your build and makes use of your Heart of Gold.

PLEASE NOTE: THESE ITEMS SHOULD NEVER BE PRIORITISED OVER NOR REPLACE WARDS

Items- Bruiser

Starting Boots of Speed as well as a ward isn't common on the bot lane, but can catch people quickly and catch them offguard. An early Tear of the Goddess stacks up giving you bonus mana, and makes your passive better.

A Heart of Gold for added gold is always good too.

Finishing Ninja Tabi and then building a Sheen gives bonus damage bursts enabling for more kills as well as bonus mana. Glacial shround for defense and more mana, as well as a catalyst the protector for sustain.

Finishing Trinity Force and Manamune grants significant damage, and then you can complete Banshee's Veil and Frozen Heart and finishing with a Randuin's Omen is a nice way to round of your build.

This grants more damage and uses lategame, but costs more so only use this if you are getting a fair few kills in lane, or you are farming (i.e. top lane or jungle) or your team is organised (atleast duo-queue on bot lane)

Skill Sequence

Explanations

Maxing 'Q'- Rocket Grab first offers less utility and maneuverability but does increase damage output/burst damage in the combination, allowing you to snowball your carry at the cost of a few extra mana points.

Maxing 'W'- Overdrive first allows you to move well and attack fast, and may offer more maneuverability and thusly open up more opportunities.

Maxing 'E'- Power Fist first reduces the cooldown, which may enable multiple knock-ups per pull, but doesn't offer any damage with the exception of the cooldown reduction so if you are unable to get the second knock up off, it is less effective than either of the other two skills.

Maxing 'R'- Static Field first increases AoE damage and also silence to prevent quick escapes and lowers the cooldown.

I suggest maxing R > Q > W > E for early kill potential

Lane Combinations

This is just a general overview of good lane partners and opposition counters, as stated above you can also check out general combinations on my other guide Bot Lane Combinations

The best carries to lane with in my opinion are carries with significant burst damage or CC of their own.

Due to this, I like laning with a Vayne. Condemn and her Silver Bolts and Tumble are strong and can apply CC, particularly if Blitzcrank hugs the wall, but anyone with good burst can be used, such as Graves or Corki.

The strongest counter ADC for Blitzcrank is anyone with easy escapes. Tristana is especially annoying, but even Ezreal, Corki or Graves can quickly dash to safety.

Conversely, you can see that people without good escape mechanisms are the preferred opponent.

Blitzcrank is especially good against champions like Kog'Maw or even Sivir assuming you catch her before she can shield, or when she is out of mana.

Be careful pulling supports, particularly Alistar as you may kill yourself with a bad pull.

Summoner Spells

Flash is great for anyone, and is currently the meta. You also can Flash back and pull to get an enemy into turret range or Flash and get a Rocket Grab to set up a kill.

Exhaust, especially improved, can set up kills so that you can stop enemies escaping, and if improved can also lower the enemies armour.

Ranked Play

Blitzcrank and this build is great for ranked play, but is often banned out because of how much of a play maker he is.

If you can grab Blitzcrank, especially in a duo-queue it is a massive advantage and the only way you can really lose is making bad calls, getting ganked or missing your grab.

Summary

In summary, Blitzcrank is an amazing play maker and can really snowball a lane and even a game if played right. I personally find that these items make for amazing support and make you extremely useful, but your carry does have to be good and reactive.

Just my thoguhts after 63 ranked games with Blitzcrank and a 61% win ratio.

Cheers Guys, JAYZORZ