This Guide is under construction
It will be finished as soon as possible

Updates:
-ad build
-masteries
-runes [not finished yet]
-reworked introduction
-skills and skilling order

still missing:
-ap build
-mixed build
-special build
-summonerspells
-rocketgrab guide
-rework items
-pro/cons

In this guide i will show you how Blitzcrank is played as an offtank.
If you havent played Blitzcrank yet, I will tell you that he is not an easy hero to play as you will need your time to handle his ability Rocket Grab.
In my opinion Blitzcrank is best played as a mana offtank because with such a build you get the best profit out of his Mana Barrier with good armor and magicresistance and a good damage output with one of his core items Manamune.
As you see i only got his core items within the purchase order. There is one simple reason for it. This guide shall show you how to play Blitzcrank as an offtank. After the maincore it depends on the enemy team which items are important for you to get.
In later chapters you see some example building orders versus enemy ad, ap or mixed teams.
You can just take a look at these building orders, but i would recommend to read the whole guide.

As Blitzcrank is a champion which can be played with different rune setups I will explain why i have picked these rune build first show you the pros and contras for these picks and after that show you some alternative runes which can be usefull for blitzcrank aswell.

Runebuild:

Greater Mark of DesolationThe Greater Mark of Desolation give you 15 extra Armor Penetration.
The Seal of Resilience give you 14 Armor
The Greater Glyph of Warding give you 14 Magic Resistance
The Greater Quintessence of Swiftness give you 4,5% Movement Speed

With these runebuild you will get:
15 Armor Penetration
14 Armor
14 Magic Resistance
4,5% Movement Speed

Pros:

higher damage output
better survivability
easier to charge enemies
you can stay longer at your lane in early game

contras:

high cooldowns
low manaregeneration
problems with Blitzcranks passiv ability as it will only give you 50% shield of your current mana
no chance for critical strikes

Alternative runes for Blitzcrank

Marks:
The Greater Mark of Malice give you 8.4% chance for critical strikes. As i dont use the offensive skilltree in my masteries you are missing these 2% extra chance. In my opinion these marks aint the best choice for Blitzcrank as you wont get much more chance for critical strikes with items.

Seals:
Greater Seal of ReplenishmentYou wont get into big mana problems if you use these mana regeneration seals as they will allow you to use your ability Rocket Grab and still have mana left for your Mana Barrier if you are getting focused. But as you get a lot of mana in mid and late game it is better to take care of your mana in early game and dont pick them.
Greater Seal of Knowledge They give you 190 extra mana at level 18, so you get 95 extra life from your Mana Barrier and 7 extra damage from Manamune

Glyphs:
Greater Glyph of KnowledgeThese glyphs give you 230,4 extra mana at level 18. You will get 115 extra shield with your Mana Barrier and 8 extra Damage from Manamune.
These glyphs give you reduced cooldowns. It is always nice to have some CD reduction as Rocket Grab has a really high cooldown (17 seconds at level 1] but as you will get Frozen Heart runes which give you cooldown reduction aint that important for Blitzcrank.

Quintessences:
Greater Quintessence of DesolationThe Greater Quintessence of Desolation give you extra armor penetration and you will have a higher damage output.
The Greater Quintessence of Resilience give you a total amount of 13 extra armor.
With these you will gain 10.5 extra magic resistance

I normally play Blitzcrank with a 1-9-20 setup in the masteries.
With this setup you gain some extra armor and magic resistance along with a higher health and mana regeneration, some lowered cooldowns and a higher movement speed.

Offensive Tree

You need 1 point for Exhaust if you are playing with it to make it more effective. You will lower your enemies armor and magic resistance by 10 and it last for 0.5 seconds longer which gets you higher chances for a kill when you use it.

Defensive Tree

I spent 9 points in defensive masteries for getting armor with Hardiness and magic resistance with Resistance and increase the health regeneration with Strength of Spirit.

Knowledge Tree

By picking Perseverance and Meditation you gain a higher mana and health regeneration. As you often need a higher movement speed to reach enemies or to escape I have spent 3 Points in Quickness. I also used 3 points for Intelligence to lower the cooldowns of Blitzcranks abilities by 6%. Finally Awareness and Expanded Mind gives you 5 extra experience and maximum mana.



With these mastieries you gain extra armor, magic resistance, health and mana regeneration and bonus experience which makes the early game for you easier and allows you to stay longer at your lane. With Expanded Mind you gain 5% extra mana which mean with over 3000 mana in the late game you will get about 80 more shield and about 6 extra damage.

I normally play Blitzcrank with Exhaust and Teleport.
I prefer these spells because with Teleport you have a nice ability to switch lanes, teleport to wards if you want to initiate a gank or at the beginning of the game you get the ability to get to base to buy items and restore life and mana and get quick back to your lane.
Exhaust helps you to get kills. In the laningphase you can try to use your rocket grab to pull enemies into your tower range. If you aint able to kill them instantly you can use exhaust to get a safe kill.
In Mid and Lategame it is always nice to have an exhaust ready to weaken the enemy carry or to slow escaping enemies.

Other Summoner Spells which work good with Blitzcrank:

Cleanse removes allmost all negative effects on you - you just cannot remove spells which suppress you - and it lowers the duration of CC spells which are casted on you by 65% for 3 seconds. As you will be in touch with the enemy and often getting focused after you grabbed an enemy this spell is nice to escape a teamfight if you are getting focused.

Flash is a nice spell which allows you to port to a location near you. This spell helps you to grab enemies or even to escape

Core Items:

Like in many other guides Blitzcrank got 3 core items:



With its passive skill Mana Barrier it is a real must have for Blitzcrank. It gives you a total amount of 1350 extra mana which means 675 extra shield and with his passive 4% of his maximum mana as attackdamage.

This item helps you to have a higher damage output with its unique and you get some extra mana

I prefer these mercury boots because of the reduction of CC. In some cases you can get Ninja Tabi instead of the mercurys if the enemy team has just ad heroes and dont have CC.

With these 3 items you got a lot of damage output, reduced CC and some magic resistance.
After this it depends on the enemy team what you buy next.

Next items to get:

If the enemy team has a lot of physical damage dealer the next item you should buy is Frozen Heart. You will get 99 extra armor, 500 mana, 20% cooldown reduction and the attack speed of nearby enemies is lowered by 20%. This gives you and your team a great advantage versus enemy ad heroes.

If the enemy team has strong ap heroes and a lot of CC your next item should be Banshee's Veil. You get 375 health and mana and 50 magic resistance. Its unique blocks 1 spell casted at you every 45 sec{onds.

Another choice if everything is going really great is to get Trinity Force direct as 4th item. You gain 12% movementspeed and 150 instead of 100% attack damage after you used a skill. I just buy this if the game is going well and no extra armor or magic resistance is needed at this moment.

6th item:

There are some items which are really nice to get aswell. Now its time for you to decide which one is the best for your current game.

Items for defence:

Guardian Angel gives you armor and magic resistance and you will be revived after death due to its unique.
Randuin's Omen is a nice 6th item if the enemy team has much physical damage dealers. You get some extra health and armor and his unique allows you to slow every enemy in range.

Item for health and mana:

Rod of Ages is another choice as a 6th item for Blitzcrank. It grants you extra health, mana and AP. But there is one problem with this item. You need 10 minutes to get it maxed. Thats should be remembered if you want to get one. If the game is going well and you want to get one, try to get it faster in your building order.

Items for offensive:

Tiamat grants you 50 extra damage, 15 health and 5 mana regenaration each 5 seconds and you do 50% splash damage to nearby enemies.
Stark's Fervor grants you 20% lifesteal which is really great in combination with Power Fist and it lowers the armor of nearby enemies.

Special Situations

If the enemy team got Karthus it is often nice to get a Hexdrinker as fast as possible to get rid of Requiem. It is not such a good item in generall for Blitzcrank but it is some nice help for you to survive Karthus ultimate as it will absorb almost every damage of Requiem in early game. Beneath this shield which absorbs 300 magic damage if your health gets under 30% you also gain 35 attack damage and 30 magic resistance.


My normal building order if the enemy team has mixed ad and ap damage and no feeded player is
first Tear of the Goddessto make sure that Rocket Grab can be used often as it is really mana expansive and that you will have enough mana through the unique passive that Mana Barrier will give you a good protection if you are getting focused and have to escape the enemies. Often you can stay at your line until you hit the 950 gold which you need to buy tear of goddnessTear of Goddness and Boots of Speed. If you can manage to get 145 more gold you can get 2 more health portionHealth Portions and a Sight WardSight Ward.

If the enemy team has just ad champions with perhaps 1 suppport champion it is your goal to get as fast as possible much armor. You start with the standard build Tear of the Goddess and Boots of Speed. Your next goal is to get a Glacial Shroud for 1425 gold which will give you 45 armor, 425 mana and 15% cooldown reduction. If you are getting big problems at your lane go back to base earlier to buy Chain Vest which will help you with its extra armor. After this I prefer to buy Sheen as it grants you double damage after you have used an ability. Now its time to decide if you need more armor or a higher movement speed. The next item for you is Mercury's Treads or Frozen Heart. When you have finished one of these items you should think about getting your Manamune to have a higher attack damage.

Now you have got these items:


When you are playing versus an enemy ad team i prefer to get Randuin's Omen as 5th item as it will give you 75 armor and 350 health. If you dont get any problems with the enemy team it is time to finish your Trinity Force.

When you have finished both of them you have items which give you health, armor, mana, movementspeed, slow, cooldown reduction and attack damage:

Mana Barrier grants you 50% of your current mana as a shield if your health gets under 20%. This passive makes Blitzcrank to a unique hero as
in combination with Manamune and items which give you mana you get both more shield and a higher attack damage.

Rocket Grab is a skillshot which pulls an enemy towards you. It deals some magic damage and the target is stunned for the time of the pull. This spell is difficult to hit and you will need some time to be good with this spell. It is great for pulling enemies out of their team into yours especially squishies or to pull them into your tower or back to you if they are fleeing.

Overdrive grants you advance movement speed and attack speed. This spell helps you to charge enemies or allows you to get out of ganks or teamfights.

Power Fist throws the enemy into the air for a second and deals double damage. It is often usefull to use this spell to keep the enemy near you.

Static Field deals damage to one nearby enemy if the spell isnt in cooldown. By activation it deals damage to all nearby enemies and silence them for 0.5 seconds. If the enemy team has champions as Katarina, Warwick, Malzahar or Nunu you can use this ability to cancel their channeling which will often save one of your squishy ap or ad heroes in a teamfight.

As grants you double damage after you have used an ability it is important to use Power Fist and Overdrive often to have a high damage output.