Included is also my experimental on-hit Heimer cheese build which should be used lightly. Understand it's just as powerful as any other build but it's much more auto-reliant. It should be the ONLY build in which Heimer can utilize his passives in conjunction with his other abilities PROPERLY. Any champ can succeed with 3 Bloodthirsters, this isn't that.

Today I'm 21, and a homegrown Californian. Music drives me, so does art, and especially creative culture in the virtual design space. I'm just another game dev wannabe who's got plans. For this community, I've been off and on with league since launch and I've been settled on my alternate account since season 4, which I've played some of S4, S5, and S7. I play often these days as Heimerdinger is wonderful 24/7 baby!

If you need a music recommendation I'm usually your man, and that's really all I'm good for!

CORE ITEM: Mejai's Soulstealer

Mejai's Soulstealer is the item which is upgraded from Dark Seal which is my starting-item of choice for AP champions.

Dark Seal provides an incredible passive which can provide you uncanny amounts of AP just for getting kills/assists.

"UNIQUE – DO OR DIE: Grants 2 Glory (+6 AP) for a champion kill and 1 Glory (+3 AP) for an assist, up to a maximum of 10 Glory stacks (+30 AP). Upon death, lose 4 Glory stacks (-12 AP)."

Now every time you have a kill/assist under your belt, you can get very far ahead by spending 50 gold less than a Doran's Ring which costs 400 gold, Dark Seal costs only 350 gold.

HOWEVER: Holding Dark Seal or Mejai's Soulstealer will make you a very very hot target for the enemy team. Most players will watch your stacks and make sure they pick you up for a kill even if it means sacrificing themselves, just to clear your stacks.

This is when Heimerdinger will say "BACK, YOU DIRTY APE, BACK!"


IN-DEPTH INFORMATION REGARDING DORAN'S & THE DARK SEAL:
Mana-intensive champions will almost always require a Doran's Ring as their starting item to keep up with mana use.

Do not buy a Dark Seal if you don't think you can handle the pressure it brings by simply holding it, or if you find yourself often spamming abilities. If you spam skills, this build isn't for you!

Doran's Ring also gives a great amount of early HP. This can be great for players who want to play aggressively. This provides to champs an extra amount of sustain in the form of flat health which can allow people to even avoid my armor runes, allowing for great possibilities in glass-cannon AP builds. Heimerdinger can remove the need for mana use by utilizing his 20 mana cost turrets to serve as wave-clear, and his primary source of damage.

If you really only use your grenades to charge guaranteed-hits for your turret beams, you will be on top of your mana use.

Saving rockets for last-hit scenarios is also a great way to micromanage mana. If you simply do this, you can survive in lane while your enemy has 0 mana due to baseless skill-spam which you can easily avoid with Heimer's movement speed passive.

At 350 gold compared to 400, Dark Seal can theoretically provide MORE AP, and MORE kill possibilities if you get kills/assists. If you're a pro, you're going to love this item.

If you enemy team consists of pros, you might get shut down early with no chance at sweet mana regen + extra hp. With my HP Regen build, I don't find the 60 hp necessary early on, since I spend an extra amount to build into Crystalline Bracer which is a HP item.

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CORE ITEM: RABADON'S DEATHCAP

Rabadon's Deathcap is a heavy-hitting AP item that gives you a passive of +35% Ability Power.

This means, whatever your AP stat is initially, it will increase all of it by +35% no matter what! This makes Rabadon's Deathcap one of the MOST gold efficient AP items in the game, and provides you with an insane amount of AP for the cost. In some cases, taking the place of 2 items worth of Ability Power!

As a first AP item, this item is ridiculously powerful, and can set you up to overpower just about anyone by time you have it in your pocket, even whole teams! I've been able to 1v5 as Heimerdinger at my tower, or even in the jungle just with this item in my hands!

Compared to starting with Luden's Tempest which gives AP at a substantial amount less-than Rabadon's Deathcap or even Rylai's Crystal Scepter. (which some outdated and misinformed guides will recommend accounting for the OLD Rylai's item, which USED to be a great first item!) Rylai's is usually picked up as a 4th item if you don't upgrade Mejai's, or as an AMAZING 5th item for it's slowing effects, which trigger extra damage.

CORE ITEM: LIANDRY'S TORMENT

Now, Liandry's is an amazing (nearly mandatory) item for Heimerdinger, because it's passive effects are triggered on a target for every time your turrets hit it!

This means theoretically you can be getting +30-60% bonus damage for your turret auto-attack damage in some circumstances, depending on target health stat.

MORE INFORMATION REGARDING LIANDRY'S:
Here's how Liandry's works:
UNIQUE: Dealing spell damage applies a damage-over-time effect that deals bonus magic damage equal to 2% of the target's current health per second for 3 seconds. This bonus damage is doubled to 4% of the target's current health against movement-impaired units and capped at 100 damage per second against monsters.


If you use your grenade on an enemy, it impairs them and triggers this effect.

Also, if you build a Rylai's Crystal Scepter that will AUTOMATICALLY give every skill you do, will gain the 4% hp damage no matter what.

Turret Auto-Attacks will trigger rylai's + liandry's every time they hit!

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CORE ITEM: RIGHTEOUS GLORY

Okay so.. Righteous Glory is exactly what it's title says. This item is the core utility item of the build. Some would say, "Oh no you should just build more AP, or get Banner of Command, Zz'Rot Portal or any number of other utility items!" However.. This item is a major game-changer.

Heimerdinger will need to be played more carefully than other AP champs, basically as a trap-setter and ambusher. Now, if you build this item you will gain all of Heimerdinger's "core" stats (most important stats).

You will recieve:
Health - which is going to provide the extra bit of tankiness he needs to do well, and stay in lane (forever).
Mana - which will serve as the extra little bit of mana Heimer actually needs.
Armor - which can protect you from auto-attacks and keep you kiting in your turrets unafraid.
Health Regen - which will give you amazing sustainability, and it will mitigate damage from auto-attacks.
Cooldown Reduction - which is a very important stat for cooldowns on your grenade. Good cooldown items are very hard to come by.

This is LITERALLY the perfect item. It gives almost all stats, which is incredible. It will basically make up for spending that extra gold on Rabadon's Deathcap AND can smartly make up for the 400 mana lost from opting out of a Morellonomicon.

Heimerdinger can survive on his core mana pool, but having a little extra will be a great match up nicely with his HP Regen which means you can stay in lane for very long periods of time with the ability to use your grenade for it's stun VERY often. Sometimes this even allows me to 1v5 even more-so by having the ability to use so many abilities back-to-back for long periods of time, while gaining hp for every second of it.

THE SLOW FROM THE ACTIVE ABILITY WILL ALSO ALLOW YOU TO PROC LIANDRY'S DOUBLE DAMAGE :D

Scourge of Piltover: The Revered Rain of Sorrow-
o E, R, W

Combo to Start Lane or Engage Enemy:

Dire Straits: Killing Combo-
o Q, Auto, Q, Auto, Q, Auto

Combos you can chain off of 3 x Q:

Full Burst: Bane of Kilimanjaro-
o E, Auto, W, Auto, R, Q

Burning Passion Breaker: Formation 37a, Ignition Sequence-
o E, Auto, R, W, Auto, Ignite

Game Over: The Dance of Death-
W, Auto, Get Close, E, R, Get them between you and your 3 turrets, Q on ahead of you opposite of your turrets, so they have to run one way or the other.

Combo when you have 3 turrets down and you can land a grenade in turret range.

Symphony of Pain: Cecil's Wrath-
o E, Auto, Move, Auto, if their flash is down, R + W

Symphony of Sorrow: Cecil's Reverie-
o E, Auto, Move, Auto, if their flash is up, run on the opposite side of them so they have to run past you, or back into turrets, set a turret on the other side of them, hit them with rockets point blank, Auto until you get the kill.

Bandle City Gang Secret Technique: Virulent Mass Grave
o Teamfight, 3 bush turrets, R, E, W, Exhaust new target, Get to their path of escape while they engage team, replace dead turrets in new bush/killzone, E, W, Ignite

Shocking Placement Theory 72: Dragonslayer's Gift
o Ult turret over back wall of dragon, E on the lowest champ, save W for last hits on champs/dragons, place your other turrets at the nearest entrance to jungle, wait in bush.

The only way you can lose is if you can't predict where the enemy will run to in a teamfight, or when your team is running straight to their impending doom while you're sitting on 3 turrets waiting for your nade cooldowns.

There is nothing you can do to counter your own team's ignorance, and MANY people will be complete homunculi and disregard your turrets during combat. Your own teammates won't see that they need to fight under it. Ping for assistance in range, and NEVER use your ult turret when your team is chasing an enemy away. Opt to use rockets if you're able to get the kill properly with overbearing damage leftover. Never waste your precious ultimate for your team if they're simply spooking the enemy team away. That could be the 10 seconds their squishy bounty player rolls into your 1 turret you have just over the wall, and you could've ult dropped them as they were in a bad position after a solid gank.

This happens plenty.

Ask for champs such as Hecarim, or Warwick, or Blitzcrank, Thresh, Swain, Fiddlesticks, Evelynn. They will be your success if you can plan good ganks and keep up your kills.

Sometimes if you're a feeding frenzy in mid and you're afraid to go near the enemy turret in mid, just roam bot and ward the river a little. I can't count the amount of times a low level jungler is whittling away at the rift scuttler to get hp as they're low from grabbing buffs and provide an easy kill for you to take or to set a gank for.

The plays that dictate your team's success will be whether you're staying ahead of their team and your own with extreme predictive senses and amazing utilization of skill management options. That is truly the only advice I can give you for any game, ever, but in League where there are 1-2-3-4 champs that you can just break someone in less than 2-3 seconds, it isn't common to find champs that require amazing skillplays. Heimer skills are pretty predictable because they're strong. I find people with more movement speed backtrack into skills more often than those without. Keep that in mind when using grenades. Someone might juke fake right into your grenade because of a badly timed motion or a minion block. Use that to your advantage.

Ahri

Don't attempt to buy magic resist if you're behind on an Ahri. The only way to beat her is to dodge her skill-shots and lock her up with your grenade when she's low. Use your turret charge-beam to your advantage.

TIP: Stay near turrets for movement speed bonus, in most cases build full AP to be her counter-part for your team.

Kennen

He will build wave-clear most of the time so if you get even one kill early he won't be a issue. Lock him up with nade + rockets and he's usually minced-meat. Do not ever underestimate him as his shuriken throws can deal a lot of damage.

TIP: Force him under his tower, don't place your turrets too close to your own minions, nade toss on him when he goes inside your turret radius.

Sona

Sona can be really tanky in most cases and can sweep away your turrets pretty easily with combos if you're sitting still. Stay outside of your turrets and try to hit her with your abilities if she gets close to them for turret charge. This will usually get her to back off and set you up for a sweet gank.

TIP: Kite your turret radius and don't attempt to get into auto-attack range if she has even 1 fully built item. You could very well underestimate her as she never roams alone and she can pick you up for a freebie. Try to use your tower to your advantage against her.

Zed

Zed is cancer and he's also one of the squishiest champs in the game. Always max out your turrets in lane to scare him, you can shove him under turret to bully him so he can't farm, or bait him under yours for easy kills. Usually noob Zed champs will jump on you, and this can be easily telegraphed, when he's jumping on you he will take a few moments to cast his ability (shown by going invisible and doing a creepy animation on you) take this time to stand inside of your turrets and throw your grenade as soon as he appears, not a second later, and you can usually pick him up. A great way to take him down is to exhaust him as soon as he appears, grenade throw, wait for the charge beams to light him up, and save your rockets for when he flashes. Don't forget that last-hit auto!

TIP: Take exhaust and ignite, when he jumps on you stand inside of your turrets, exhaust + grenade him when he appears. Then, if he's really low and has flash: Use ignite, and last hit with rockets when he runs/flashes. If you fear he can kill you with his jump and you're in that moment, drop your ult turret and stand on it, then Zed can one provide easy kill from the grave.

Fizz

Fizz is a scary mother trucker and he hits harder than a trucker ever could. He can dodge your grenades and his giant Kraken/Whale/Behemoth will swallow you and your UPGRADE turret and you will never be seen or meme'd again; that is until you return to lane. Don't let him get under your turret or he will do insane acrobatics under it without taking any damage and ult you if you poop yourself. Generally this champ is to be banned by you so you don't have to face him. [*] Zhonya's Hourglass Zhonya's Hourglass is the one hard counter to him. You can stay safe through his ult-bullsh*t. Although this still won't guarantee you anything but a free moment to stop clenching your butt before he inevitably stomps the yard with your unborn children under his feet.

TIP: Play it very safe, get Zhonya's Hourglass to have a second chance to live when he ults you. This could turn a game around.

Lucian

Lucian is trash but he can be countered by proper mana conservation and farming under turret. He will use his weird plus-sign bullet to take your turrets out very easily, and will kite you for days. Pepper him with auto-attacks whenever you have a possibility and he will then usually build some form of defense, and that's when you get ahead with major AP spikes.

TIP: You might consider buying a Seeker's Armguard after you pick up your Needlessly Large Rod as this can provide the best of both worlds, even if it's bad gold conservation. Try to bait him into using his skills on you instead of your turrets by staggering your positioning.

Sion

Sion can charge his little compensation-stick (main weapon) and eat all of your turrets + minions in one sweep. Use abilities on him every time he uses this god-forsaken skill and try to keep him from killing the cannon minions. He can be stunned, always stay near a turret when fighting him head on, and remember he has TWO lives, so if he dives you under turret when you have low health you might be dead if you can't save your grenade for the right moment.

TIP: Scream at your team to buy armor penetration, use your grenade to stun him when he's dead to keep your team-mates safe. Maybe consider building Zhonya's for when he's on that last 30% of health and is trying to auto you to get life back.

Annie

Annie is a garbage champ and anyone who uses her is garbage. Walk that little girl into your venn diagram of turrets and nade the c*nt. Treat her teddy bear the same way. Generally you will want to burst her down and take her out before the bear if she's below 65% hp, but if you can only manage to get the bear walk it under your turret and fire your skills at her while saying "GOOD DAY, SIR!"

TIP: Build Rabadon's, and always bait her into your half of the lane. Tibbers isn't that strong early on and Annie is going to be extremely squishy. Make sure you predict her stun passive (after four skill uses, the next ability will stun on hit). so you don't get baited into a trap.

Darius

Red Garen will kill your turrets easily and you will want to maybe invest in Seeker's quickly as he can pimp you out to his side-hoe Jungler every time you get below 40% hp.

TIP: He will likely get something like Spirit Visage which gives him health regen. You'll want to take a Morellonomicon (reduces his healing by 40% when you deal damage as he's low on HP) and pick up a Void Staff which will give you great Magic Penetration to counter him.

LeBlanc

A tough matchup only won by strategic positioning and mana conservation.

TIP: Do not ever underestimate the use of her decoy. There are times where it's very wise for a Leblanc user to use a decoy in order to make you think she's running away. If you think she'd dedicate to going face to face with you, always attempt to take her down when you see her use that decoy if she's on your tail when you're low, or if she's at full hp.

Karthus

Karthus will snipe you from the grave and kill your turrets with his spammable exploding blue magic attack thingy.

TIP: You want to pick up movement speed for this guy. You might even pick up Luden's over Rabadon's to get 10% movement speed bonus to avoid his skillshots. You can't afford to be slow against a Karthus.

Xerath

Xerath can eat you and your turrets alive using the purest energy. You want to pick up movement speed for this guy because his ult is like Karthus' on roids.

TIP: Xerath is going to usually get mana items so he can spam minions and stay in lane indefinitely. You want to simply be the better AP laner against him. Even if you can't kill him early on, at least get him low enough so he considers backing so you can also back for mana to keep up.

Viktor-

Viktor is the cooler, possibly Russian cousin of Heimerdinger. He even gets his own unique item to build every game. A**hat if you ask me. If you can keep your turrets alive without wasting mana you can light him up if he's dumb enough to stand within 2m of them.

TIP: Watch when he uses his laser, and avoid the ground it affects. Remember his ult can chase you, and he will always opt to use it when your tower is pushed and you're low on hp.

Gragas

Gragas will just build magic resist and tank you while gurgling sweet ale under your tower for 30 seconds after you die, and dancing on your dead body. You might need a Void Staff and even a Spirit Visage if you start getting deleted every 5 seconds. Try to stay on top of your AP game as he will outscale you with tankiness and you most-likely won't be able to counter him in a solo fight without full hp, Greenfather's buff, first initiation with 3 turrets UP prior to the engagement, and ult ready. I usually always avoid a Gragas.

TIP: Make sure you get boots early on to avoid embarrassing moments against a Gragas. He can send you flying with his ult so make sure you keep your farm closer to your tower so he doesn't get behind you. If a Gragas can see he can get behind you, he will.

Sivir

Sivir can break your turrets down very easily make sure to keep them spread out more than usual. Force her to use her weird blade attacks multiple enemies while spinning slowly skill, when she has no mana delete her.

TIP: She's generally not a bursty champion as her ult is a buff to speed. You don't necessarily need armor against her either, just ensure you avoid her Q no matter what (the skill that goes straight and returns to her).

Talon

Talon can uninstall your League of Legends game while you're playing against him, just by pressing CTRL+3, so make sure you keep him at bay with proper turret management and attempt to soft farm under tower.

TIP: You will want to stay at max skill range at all costs. His ult can be used as a major gap closer, if you see it just run back to tower, it takes a while to take effect.

Hecarim

Psycho crazy horse demon who will eat you and your babies. No real strategy to fighting him. Only real advantage you could have against Hecka R*pe would be to have a tower helping you whittle him down while circling it wisely and stunning him with grenade throws. This might take a few minutes.

TIP: Try to get 40% cooldown so you can use more grenades quicker in teamfights. Buy boots early on, and try to force his fights to be under your tower.

Rammus

Rammus is going to steam roll you forever. Stun him under your tower and you should be fine. Otherwise, you might be screwed. Bait him into 3 bush turrets, drop a nade on him when he gets right in the middle, and watch him burn.

TIP: You might not want to use ult turret to fight this guy. He will easily run away in bad situations and you'll want to use your ult rockets to secure the damage.