Hi, I'm Mourninguitar
This is my first build guide so please give constructive criticism/feedback :) we're all here to learn!
I main Tanky characters such as Darius, Volibear, Jarvan and Galio (more builds coming soon!), this started when i first played LOL and my general tactics consisted of LEEEROOY JEENKIINNSS and CHAAARGEEEEE. Then darius came onto champion rotation, and i fell in love. I quickly picked up on his playstyle, and bought him with RP very quickly. then came Volibear, Galio and Jarvan, all very strong initiators, suiting my playstyle perfectly.

Taric is a champion i bought a long time ago before i started playing LOL seriously, in fact I think he was the first champion I bought, when I had no idea what I was doing. Recently I have started playing the fabulous master of gems again and he has turned into my main character.

TL;DR lets get started!

Here I will outline the workings of Taric as a champ.
Taric is a very strong tanky-support.
The reason i call him a tanky-support, is because he shares characteristics of both of these roles.
I do not consider him a true tank because he has no damage mitigation ability (e.g, a sheild, AR + MR boost etc.) So he cannnot surprise the enemy team by suddenly becoming impossible to kill, which i consider to be a key charateristic of true tanks (Jarvan's W, Galio's W and Alistar's Ult), although he is capable of absorbing a LOT of incoming damage.
He does however display all the characteristics of a support, since each of his abilities (bar his passive) allow him to heal or buff his allies, or debuff/CC his enemies.

You may be curious about his champion roster on the client however, since he is listed as a Support/fighter.
This is interesting, but from my experience, when he has his Ult activated, he is capable of dealing a fair amount of damage, along with his passive. My full-damage combo goes like this:
R>BA>E>BA>W>BA>Q>BA, and continue as your passive reduces your cooldowns. However this can quickly drain your mana, but benefits from high armor stats. This is why a frozen heart is Taric's core item, Armor, Mana and CDR all benefit this combo.

For anyone doubting Taric's power, check out this awesome animation by SummonerShowdown: Play Video Ah the curse of the Support.........

RUNES
This runepage will help in botlane on most supports, giving armor to reduce early all-ins from the enemies, MR to reduce Support dmg (which is apparently a thing now), AP to boost your heals, and GP10 to help you get your items quicker. The hybrid pen marks may be a personal thing however, but i take them because they help me deal more damage with my abilities and basic attacks, (basic attacks when Taric ults can deal a surprising amount of damage to squishies), and his AOE dmg is helped by this also.

MASTERIES
For masteries I like to focus on damage mitigation and gold generation, with more focus on reducing AD and basic attack damage, and on Generating gold, improving movement speed and mana regen in the early game.

Now the juicy stuff.

Taric's most beneficial stats are Armor, Health, CDR, AP and Movement Speed.
However he does start off with decent base stats, so i find getting his Boots of mobility or Glacial shroud works well on his first "B". Boots are most useful against skillshot champs like Ezreal, Kog'maw, corki etc. while the GS is best against champs who rely on basic attacks or have lock-on abilities such as Tristana, Draven, or Quinn.

As for his core Items, I ALWAYS get spirit visage, FOTM, Frozen Heart and Sightstone. This makes me tanky enough to get in and pop my W and R, stun the ADC and enough health that my heal actually does something noticeable. The order in which you purchase these is situational, and you

For the last item, if you are finding that your enemies are hiding under towers, then an ohmwrecker is for you, allowing you (along with your insane Armor/Health stats) to dive all the towers with your ADC there to provide wrecking ball facilities. Generally this is the best 6th item, however a ROA or Abyssal Scepter are both valid options also.

Pros:

Tanky Throughout
Ranged Stun
Tons of Buffs/Debuffs
Great Utility
Good Teamfight potential
Easy to play

Cons:
Being balls deep in a fight can distract you from healing your carries.
Difficult to predict DMG output, may sometimes accidentally steal kills from ADC with your W
Lacks AOE CC

Whenever Your Relic Sheild/Targons Brace/Face of the Mountain's Passive is charged, steal a minion from your ADCarry, as long as they are aware that you will be doing so, you will not get flamed and will generate gold for yourself and your team. try and aim for the siege minions if possible, since they will provide you with the most gold per proc on your support item.

As a cheeky tactic if you think you can stand a few basic attacks from the enemy ADC, try SivHD's reverse support tactic and stand over your own minions when they have low health, this will make it difficult for the enemy ADCarry to farm and will put your Team ahead in terms of gold. Gold = better stats = harder hits = more wins!

Taric lacks any kind of escape, so flash is a must, Exhaust is a good bit of extra CC, securing a kill for your team, or disabling the enemy ADcarry long enough for your team to take them and/or any other high-priority targets out.

Your Role as a Tank/Support is to be able to soak up as much damage for your team, whilst disabling dangerous targets by stunning them with your E, shredding their armor with your W, and keeping yourself and your teammates alive with your Q. Your Ult is capable of transforming you into a high-damage bruiser at 3 points, capable of dealing some serious damage while buffing your team-mates.
Basically if you let off your Ult you are almost guaranteed to win most teamfights, since your team gets a considerable amount of free AD and AP.

Q: Your Q, whilst having useful utility, does not heal for much mid-game, make sure your teammates are aware of this so they can play more carefully, to avoid you wasting your mana. Lategame however, or once you have some decent health/AP stats and a Spirit Visage, this becomes a very powerful heal and can salvage a teamfight (when applied correctly).

W: This is your bread-and-butter skill, It gives you some of the best base armor in the game, and allows you to increase your ADCarry's damage by shredding any point-blank range enemies' armor stats. This is why taric works best as a tanky character,

I hope you found my Noob's Guide to Taric useful, if not, please let me know of any adjustments/additions you would like to suggest!
If this gets enough attention i will consider making it look nicer as well, learn how to add in pictures etc.
I am also well up for discussing support tactics at any time, I'm here to learn as well!
Looking forward to seeing Taric become the new meta support!


Stay Safe, have fun, and play honorably.
-Mourninguitar