Best Use -- Honestly, this is VERY situational. Some high level players can do it quite well because its sexy (because kills are sexy), but generally speaking, unless they have a squishy team with very little CC or you have 2 or more other tanks, I'd avoid this build.

To run it successfully there are two possible win conditions:

1.) Be a very effective and aggressive ganker early to snowball. It's likely you will get the kills, not your laner, so its on you later in the game.

2.) Farm yourself ahead and win a late fight to end the game. You can do this by either soloing baron (though at higher levels, baron will be warded and its unlikely this will work), or engaging successfully and blowing up 2 squishies. Late in the game you will be able to 1 shot a squishy or two with your Q/R/E combo. Don't try to set up R. You have to just cast it immediately.

Cons -- If you are CCed or miss your combo, its GG and you will lose. You will have done no damage and be easily erased. You are extremely succeptible to this against champs like Ahri, Zyra, Zoe, Soraka (her silence), or anyone else that can stun you because you need to be in the center of combat to ult. Also if you get behind, its REALLY hard to catch up. If you can't one-shot their squishies, you are useless.

Pros -- You can carry (though i've gotta be honest, its unlikely you will more than 50% of the time). More fun.

Runes -- Domination (Electrocute/Dark Harvest, Cheap Shot, Eyeball, Ravenous Hunter. Sorcery (Transcendence/Gathering Storm).

Build -- Runic Echos, Zhonays, Sorc Boots, Radobans --> Situational after this, but Morelle***, Banshees, Lich Bane, or defensive items are all good options. After the core build, you will be able to solo Baron.

Tips -- You are a glass Grenade. Its unlikely you will survive the engage (unless its 1v1). Q/R/E as fast as possible, hope for the best and let your team clean up. The ideal outcome is you are dead and their whole team is dead. If you miss the hook, just back off and start over. You can never force it here. This is particularly true if you 1v1 or try to gank. If you miss the hook, just walk away.

Best Use -- If you are the only tank on your team, this is the build to go to. Also if your team starts behind, this will make you more useful in fights. Your team needs you. Even though it won't be glorious, you can rack up a nice 1/0/23 KDA line. You will walk into battles, soak up damage, walk out with 100 hp, and leave the opponent frustrated that they wasted 30 seconds trying to kill you. You are seriously indestructible.

To run it successfully the win condition is:

1.) Hang out around your most fed squishies and get them more fed. Be their defender. When Kha'Zix tries to jump on them, slam the R button to save your squishy and give them a free kill. When its time to engage, hook (or just walk) to the center of the team. Wait until you are in the perfect position for the dream ult. Then cast it and let your squishies finish them. Your presence in the center of the fight alone will cause their team to scatter in fear or your ult. Walk out once you are around 40% HP. You have done your job. You should end these games with under 3 deaths.

Cons -- You don't do damage. You are dependent on letting your team know you are about to engage and them following you. If they don't, you'll still probably live, but you will have wasted your ult.

Pros -- Situationally, you can end games. One well timed ult with your damage dealers around and its GG. Also this is a very forgiving build. Even if you miss an ult, you can just walk away, reset, and try again in 60 seconds. You won't have fed.

Runes -- Resolve (Aftershock, Font of Life, Conditioning, Overgrowth). Sorcery (Transcendence/Gathering Storm) <---- Yes this is the same. Your game DEPENDS on your ult. Most of these will be longer games, so Gathering Storm will be material on you (especially when your AP will be pretty low to begin wtih).

Build -- Cinderhulk, Ninja/Merc, Abyssal/Frozen Heart <---- Adjust according to who is fed. If their ADC is fed, go Ninja, Frozen first, then Abyssal. If noone is fed, Nina, Abyssal. If AP is fed, Merc, Frozen. After this, build based on who is fed on their team/their team comp. Top choices are Thornmail, Spirit Visage, Zhonays, Banshee Viel, Warmogs.

Tips -- Survive. Leave fights in time to survive. Your best use is soaking up damage while your W melts the team, then walking out. Your competitive advantage comes from the fact that you can end games with 0 or 1 death, meaning you gave the opponents nothing. A simple back and you are back to full force ready to soak up more damage. You want to always be around the team with this build. Also, don't take the kills if you don't have to, leave them for your laners. Lastly, DONT DIE. This is even more true early. If you see the enemy jungler, just walk away. You can't 1v1 anyone. Don't try, don't waste your time. Give up the scuttle, move on and beat them to the other scuttle. Know where the enemy jungler is, warn your team of potential ganks, and be somewhere else (early game).

Best Use -- Saving the best for last. This is the standard hybrid where you do a decent amount of damage (maybe not enough to solo many champs), but have enough defense to survive even if you get caught out of position.

To run it successfully the win condition is:

1.) Lead the team. Direct where you want everyone to be and when. You are the controller in this role. You can get a dragon with only one additional teamate (or even solo it). You can queue up a baron. You can save a fleeing teamate. And most importantly, you ARE the engager. No team fights should happen without you. Pick the right battle, set up your ult, and it should be GG.

2.) Powerfarm, particularly up to level 6.

Cons -- It's tougher to play because you won't have the forgivness of the Tank. You also don't have as much room for defensive items until late in the game, so if they have a well balanced team, its likely you will be strong against AP OR AD, and need to be very careful around the other. Think about this when picking fights. Don't go against the Ahri if you have Ninjas and Frozen Heart.

Pros -- This is the most balanced, consistant, and effective build. And also the most flexible as you can easily shift with each item you are building. Ahead? more damage. The AP champ is snowballing, abyssal. The attackspeed champ is snowballing, Thornmail/Frozen Heart.

Runes -- Resolve (Aftershock, Font of Life, Conditioning, Overgrowth). Sorcery (Transcendence/Gathering Storm) <---- Same as Tank.

Build -- Cinderhulk, Ninja/Merc, Liyandrys or at least a blasting wand before tank. (This is because you will be more effective with your ganks and be able to farm faster, which is a key here). Then its all situational, but a final build would be something like Cinder, Boots, Liandrys, Abyssal or Frozen, Riayls, One more situational item.

Note: The more you are ahead, the more AP you want to build. The more you are trailing, the more tank you want to build.

Tips -- Play smart. With this build, you still don't want to die. Ideally 1-4 deaths in a game is about right. You will get some kills, and can end up with 10+ in a game if you snowball. The most important part of this build is the build itself, knowing your limits, and playing accordingly. IF you have gone tanky, play closer to the tank build. If you are mostly AP, don't get yourself killed and don't engage if you can't win the fight. If you are snowballing, keep pushing it and adding to the AP. If their Akali is 20/0/0 but no one else on the team has a kill, don't build any AD, just build MR and AP. If you have a numbers or position advantage, you can engage early, but generally, stick to ganks and avoidance pre level 6.

Early Game/Pathing (Level 1-6) -- This applies no matter what build. Amumu is flexible and can start red or blue. The most important thing is that you do NOT want to encouter the enemy jungler. You are very weak early and will not win 1v1. Even 2v1s can be hard if you miss your hook. If you DO encounter them, running is probably your best option and just moving somewhere else unless your laners are really effective at coming and helping out (ie come RIGHT away). That being said...



Best Path (80%) -- The best path for Amumu is using no leash. This has two positive effects. 1.) Most junglers will expect Amumu to start blue (and they will try to invade Red after their blue), so this will throw them off. 2.) This leaves your bot lane free. I always encourage them to cheese (sit in tri brush if you are top side or river brush if you are bot side) and wait for the leashers to walk through unsuspectingly. This will almost always result in them getting Heal and Flash, and sometimes they will get first kill. Albeit this seems minor, this will put a good bot lane vastly ahead at the cost of a few seconds in your pathing. You may be able to pay less attention to bot lane later because of this.

Execution -- Immediately run to the blue brush and hang out there. Drop a ward in your blue buff brush at 1:16. This is extremely important because if their jungler decides to invade you early, you will know and can change your pathing accordingly. Walk over to your raptors. Turn on your W and solo Red Buff (the raptors will keep poking you, and your W will allow you to heal). You should leave red buff at full health. Move to Krugs followed by raptors. If at any point you see the enemy jungler stealing your blue, your best play is to let him have it and go clear out his blue jungle immediately before finishing off your red side. He will waste a lot of time exploring his blue jungle later only to realize its gone while you don't have to since you know yours is already gone. After raptors, you will be 3. If enemy mid is pushed, go straight for the gank (and ping that you are coming). Don't waste time here. One shot. Q him, E him, walk away. If you got the kill great, if you didn't, move on. Continue to wolves --> blue --> Gromp. At this point, you will likely be low. Check if scuttle is available. If there's an easy gank top, take it, otherwise just play safe and back. You should have 950+ gold, enough for boots and starting your jungle item. At this point, you will be 4. Go for a gank bot if its there, otherwise krugs and do another full clear (pick up scuttles if they are there and easy). You should be 6 now. Game on.



Invade (10%) -- Amumu's Q is great for the early invade. If you have another stun or two on your team, its not a bad idea to try to invade. DONT take Q until you are absolutely sure its worth it (ie once you are in combat, they have flashed, and you still have a perfect Q set up for a kill). The threat of your Q is usually enough to get a flash. At this point, you likely have taken a lot of time. If you can still do the pathing above without being 20 seconds behind, go for it, otherwise take a leash on Blue and go Blue --> Gromp --> Wolves --> Raptors -->Red ---> Gromp. I wouldn't worry too much about ganking on the first run unless its easy and obvious. You won't hit 3 until after the raptors, so its pretty tough.



Red Steal (10%) -- Since you can solo red....this works IF you are 100% certain they are starting blue. If for some reason your team has poked around and you know their jungler is starting at their blue, instead of dropping a ward at 1:16 in your jungle, sneak up to their red jungle around 1:25. Drop a ward in their raptors bush and solo Red --> their raptors --> Scuttle --> your blue. Make sure as soon as you see their jungler move into their red jungle, you track them and warn your laners. There's a decent chance they will try to hunt you or gank, so just be aware and ready to act accordingly (run or counter gank), again trying to avoid combat unless you can get your laners to follow. This strategy is really high risk and you should be pretty sure its going to work before trying it.



Mid Game (Level 6-12) -- At this point, you are going to want to continue to power farm, ward, and get the dragons/Rift. The most important thing here is tracking the enemy jungler. Buy control wards with any extra money EVERY TIME. If you see him top side and you are bot, run into his jungle and drop a ward. This will pay massive dividends. Every time your R is up, look for a gank opportunity. Everytime your R is not up, play it safe and take what they give you. Don't try to get cute. Though you can gank with just your Q, its pretty high risk and you need to be certain its worth it. Your most effective play is to just prevent ganks. Show up when they try to gank. You don't have to do anything, your presence alone should slow them down and force them to move on.

Again, when your R is up, be looking for engages. When your R is down, take it easy, power farm, and ward.



Late Game (Level 13+) -- My first tip is don't forget to farm. Anytime your R is down, you should be farming and discouraging your team from engaging. YOU are the engager. Anytime your R is up, be looking for a fight. Your team might get upset that you "aren't around", but the reality is that they should not be engaging. They should just be pushing lanes until you are ready. Your ult can win or lose the game. Remember that. Win OR Lose. If you miss it, just back off and have your team back off. You really don't want to have any fight where your ult did not execute properly. You are rather ineffective after that. The longer the game lasts, the more it favors you because you will get to the point where you can drop your ult, catch 1-2 of their team, and they will be deleted by your carries leaving a 5v3 fight for your team, which is GG. It's really important in this phase to ping your team if you are not there. Warn them, annoy them, just don't let them fight without you and without your R. Ping your R's time. Communication is huge.



Ganking/Engages -- Don't force it. That's the biggest key here. You don't have great sustain. Find a good angle. Launch a Q. If it hits, engage. If it doesn't, or you miss and hit a minion, JUST BAIL. Don't try to finish the fight. You will take some damage, sure, but everyone will live another day. The same is try late in the game. If you miss, just back off until your Q is back up.

When ganking, if you see them backing up upon your approach, it likely means its warded. Just turn around and walk away. You don't want to end up hitting a late Q and getting pulled under their tower when you didn't want it. The'll be better opportunities. Have your laners clean up the wards and come back in a couple minutes.

Also when ganking, if you get a really good angle (ie come in from behind), SAVE your Q. Wait until they flash or get around you to use it. If you Q in and they just flash away, you will miss the kill. You want to walk in from behind, let them flash, then Q for the stun and kill.

The best engage is if you can walk in, R - AA - Q - E. That will stun them for effectively 3 seconds and you should be able to delete someone before they even touch you. Only use Q first if you need the gap closing.

Lastly, practice Flash-Ult. Do this by pressing R then IMMEDIATELY flashing. R-F. R-F. R-F. Do it over and over. This will allow you to land a perfect ult that is to fast to react to. I use my flash for this 80% of the time vs 20% of the time for escaping.



Pyschology -- You will miss hooks. You will get flamed. Just ignore them. I never talk in games. Everything you need to say can be communicated in pings. If you miss a hook, its ok, we all do. I've missed numerous hooks on the scuttle LOL. Back away, try again later. You get another chance in 15 seconds :)



General tips -- Most of what you do is walking around and kiling jungle monsters. WARD. Ward a lot. Always buy Control wards. Drop them in their jungle. Watch the mini map. Warn your team of danger. Ping 50x if you need to if they are ignoring the danger. You are in the perfect position to be staring at the minimap 75% of the time and saving your team from a bad situation. Ward. Ward. and Ward some more. 75 gold can save you 300 + being off the map very easily.





In summary, Amumu is great because of his flexibility, and because you can adjust to the needs every single game, mid game. He is one of the most versatile champs with a game changing ult. A well played Amumu will be someone who never loses games for his team (aka never feeds), but has the potential to land a game changing/ending Hook or Ult.



TL;DR: There are three primary styles. Bruiser is the most effective and common, though AP and Tank have their moments. Experts can win with AP, but its not for the faint of heart.