Hello, my name is AJ Sanchez (twitch.tv/flexpointlol). I am a Diamond V Top lane main, and have been playing league since Season 3. I have been steadily climbing from ending season 3 Bronze V, Season 4 Gold V, and currently Diamond V, and I feel that I should be able to end this season among the .01% of players, but hey, dream big. My credentials for making this guide are countless Rumble games, fewer Rumble Commentaries (youtube.com/flexpointlol), and multiple coaching lessons regarding the champion. I feel that Rumble will easily become one of the top 2 Top laners with the recent nerfs to Ryze and other champions AND the changes to AP items 2 patches ago.

I hope you thouroughly read through this guide and that it helps you whether your knowledge of Rumble is nonexistent, or even better than mine.

Rumble is that AP Top laner that you can usually turn to when your team lacks the Magic Damage needed, your opponent selects someone annoying to lane against, Darius, Riven, or Renekton; if you flat out just want to be a bully. He has a really aggressive lane phase, and an even more aggressive mid/late game. With tools such as Liandry's Torment, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, and The Equalizer, Rumble is A FORCE to have for your team and a nightmare for the enemy team. Rumble is that champion that can go 0-10 (but you never should have a score like that) and STILL be extremely dangerous in the late game. I always find him somewhat similar to Yasuo. As Yasuo, it doesn't matter how many kills or deaths you have, once you get a few items, you can kill almost anyone. Difference is, Rumble is built around team fighting.

He has a built in shield, movement speed buff, a slow, and low cooldowns for said spells. His kit is made for the top lane, and paired with certain items, can be extremely powerful. Another feature I like about Rumble is that he has absolutely no dependency on mana. Top laners that don't rely on Mana tend to be stronger in lane: Riven, Renekton, Rumble, Garen, etc etc

Pros

+ Kit allows you to work around burst/ganks/zoning + Easy to farm with + Very strong in 2v1 situation + Insane Magic Damage early + No Mana required + People generally lack knowledge of Rumble so you can take advantage of their ignorance. + The Equalizer

Rumble is a top tier pick in Solo Q. He has a built in escape & chase with Scrap Shield and Electro-Harpoon. He has The Equalizer and the enemy team does not. Very strong 2v1 with the aid of a well placed Equalizer and an even stronger 5v5. He's that lane bully that actually scales really well. Works well with almost every AP item. Oh, and The Equalizer.

Cons

+ High skill cap + Some people struggle to properly use The Equalizer + Overheating incorrectly is certain death.

Every champion has their weaknesses, but you have to exploit Rumble's, and if your opponent isn't familiar with Rumble, which is a lot of the time, a major weakness is you, the user. Played correctly, Rumble has little chance to outplay. As strong as The Equalizer is, a simple flash can avoid its wrath. If you feed early, Rumble will still be very useful in team fights, but his lane phase will be a nightmare. If you feed early, there is nothing you can do except beg for ganks and wait for the team fights. This nightmare is amplified over 9000 if you feed someone like Renekton, Irelia, or Riven. Generally, Rumble's biggest weaknesses are GANKS and MISPLAYS. Both things you, the user, can avoid.

> > >

Very standard order. If you are new to Rumble, please follow this skill sequence. IF YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH RUMBLE, then you max Electro-Harpoon FIRST against champions like Renekton and Darius. I won't get any more deeper into this matter, but if for any reason you'd like an IN-DEPTH explanation as to when to do one or the other, simply comment and ask.

• // If you find yourself getting zoned, for some reason, use your Electro-Harpoon to farm safely.
• // You typically want to overheat with Flamespitter to maximize your damage.
• // If you are at 75 Heat, you can quick cast 2 spells to maximize damage with overheating such as Electro-Harpoon/ Flamespitter or Scrap Shield/ Electro-Harpoon for a more defensive position.

• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: Essential for lane dominance. Outclasses every other quint. HOWEVER, if you find yourself against Riven, Renekton, Darius, or Pantheon and you want to be a little safer, take ONE Greater Quintessence of Armor along with your armor seals. It'll greatly reduce their lane damage.
  
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Another must have for runes. No other mark can compete here.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power: Now this you can work with. If you find yourself laning against magic damage, sub these out for Greater Glyph of Magic Resist.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: Great runes to get on Rumble. However, you can replace them with Greater Seal of Scaling Health if you are against a AP laner to help with your tankiness post-1st item.

Armor

If you manage to get a kill vs a Riven, Renekton, Darius, I would suggest buying a Chain Vest on your FIRST recall then proceed to buy your Liandry's Torment. An early Chain Vest is DEVASTATING vs those champions. They will deal almost no damage to you with Scrap Shield.

Magic Resist

If against AP champs, you ALWAYS RUSH THE Negatron Cloak --> Abyssal Mask. Again, Negatron first, NOT Blasting Wand. The early MR coupled with Scrap Shield is very strong.

Health

You typically only need Liandry's Torment and Rylai's Crystal Scepter. I merely added the other items for sub-par options that you can mess with.

Damage

I added Void Staff here, even though it's already a core item because it's dependent on when you get it. Rabadon's Deathcap IS NOT an essential item, but it is still very strong to get on Rumble later in the game.

What I like to do, and am notorious for, is taking wolves level 1. I believe, as Rumble, walking into lane with a Doran's Shield and 5 potions is the easiest way to dominate lane. If you are a beginner, by all means, walk to lane level 1 and start from there, but this is just a tactic to help you get an advantage.
Play Video

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There is another way to obtain level 2 AND help your jungler at the same time. Double jungling: ignorant junglers hate it, experienced junglers love it. Basically, you start on the Toad/Golem camp (OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE ADC) and tag team 2 camps with your jungler. DO NOT TAKE THE BIG MONSTER (Buffs/Toads/Big Golems). Just make sure you are in XP range. You can kill small monsters, it doesn't matter. The goal is to share XP and tank the damage for them, or shuffle it. By the time you finish the second camp, you'll both be level 2. From there, recall, and Teleport into lane. What makes this better for the jungler is that you will tank most of the damage making him strong enough to do a full clear and even gank. I don't suggest this unless you are duo with your jungler and have practiced it in normals first.

Your main goal in the early game is to FARM EFFICIENTLY while zoning your opponent with Flamespitter and putting your opponent behind. Punish them for walking up to CS with your range. I wouldn't go TOO aggressive early because you will draw a lot of attention from the enemy jungler. Ward deep, and use a Pink ward also. Since you'll be shoved in most of the time, you'll be able to defend it from the laner. Once you get The Equalizer, you can either look for teleport plays or simply use it to hard shove a lane so you can get a free recall.

By this time you should have Liandry's Torment and Sorcerer's Shoes making your team fighting very strong. With that, you should be looking to gank bot/mid lane and force fights at objectives.

Late game meaning, 3-4 items, you are probably the strongest team fight presence in the game. If you lack the hard engage from your team, you can cast The Equalizer. Coupled with Rylai's Crystal Scepter, you can force engages onto the enemy. Your main goal is to cast The Equalizer on as many enemies as possible. Specifically, the carries. The Equalizer with Liandry's Torment should already chunk carries for 50% of their health, so make sure it's a good one.
Play Video

GREAT TEXT HERE Sejuani's ultimate, Glacial Prison makes The Equalizer VERY easy to hit. Also has Permafrost which greatly slows them for 1.5 seconds. When I see a Sejuani select, Rumble jumps to the top pick for me.

VERY BAD TEXT HERE Although Gragas has great gank pressure in your lane, once the team fights start, his Explosive Cask effect counters The Equalizer. Knocking everyone in different directions isn't that good for Rumble. It's not a never pick matchup, but it means you'll have to be smarter with your ultimates.

Good TEXT HERE I will list Blitzcrank as a general champion. This applies to ALL/ANY champions that can isolate an enemy with spells such as Explosive Cask, Death Sentence, etc etc. You can use The Equalizer as a zoning mechanic to keep the enemy team from jumping in and engaging after a pull.

TL;DR
Anyone with hard CC is great for The Equalizer.

Frequently Asked

Answers

Q: Is Rumble really THAT op?

// In the right hands, Rumble is OP. In inexperienced hands, he is, well, still strong, but not OP. It takes time to learn him, but once you have him down, he is extremely strong.

Q: Do I use Flamespitter to farm or harass?

// Excellent question, Flamespitter is a nice tool to have to help you last hit AND zone/harass at the same time. That's what makes it so strong. When you finally learn how to farm with Flamespitter active, that's when you tend to lose lane less and become a bigger threat. Sure, it's used to harass, but I found that I did better when I realized that its main function is to farm safely rather than harass. Change the mindset, it'll help. Plus when you are under tower, Flamespitter makes farming easy.

Q: Do you have Rumble commentaries that can explain in game?

// Yes, feel free to go to youtube.com/flexpointlol and proceed to "Top Lane Guides".

Q: When should I group?

// You typically want to group as soon as you take tower or when you finish Liandry's Torment. If you finish Liandry's and still have top tower to take, you can still roam bot and throw out The Equalizer to try and scrap kills, and then Teleport back to top lane.

Q: Isn't Ignite better for a bully like Rumble?

// It is strong for Rumble in lane, and I would definitely suggest taking it against Vladimir and Swain, but in every other scenario, you want Teleport due to the shear amount of team fight presence you bring to the table. Obviously, you will hit level 6 before bot lane, so teleporting bot and using The Equalizer against the enemy bot lane who is level 5, will be extremely strong. Also, it's nice to take for objective control with the early dragons.

Rumble vs. Riven https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg5gcOw0ls0&list=PL4E-uH30UD0-Jyj3ekfCu4_kc7gK7gB7d&index=5

Rumble vs. Cassio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKEWJ6owbuk&list=PL4E-uH30UD0-Jyj3ekfCu4_kc7gK7gB7d&index=29

More to follow~

In the right hands, Rumble can hard carry you game. You just have to put in the effort to learn him. It took me 30 games straight to learn him. At some point, something just clicked. I went from 8-9-10 scores to 18-4-10. The hardest part for me was learning how to lane with him. Specifically, farming. I HATED Rumble when I first tried him because I had the mindset that I'm supposed to farm with Flamespitter. This is wrong, you're supposed to farm with your Auto attacks, Flamespitter merely ASSISTS you in farming. Just land The Equalizer and you've basically done your job. If you find yourself wondering you should get Rabadon's Deathcap or Zhonya's Hourglass, get Zhonya's.

I hope that this guide helps you. I put it a lot of hours and effort in this guide to help you, the viewer, learn this champ. You can go to my stream (twitch.tv/flexpointlol) and my youtube channel, (youtube.com/flexpointlol) and see first hand that my streams/vids are to EDUCATE. I was Bronze V, I know the struggle, so I can help you in your elo.

Again, Thank you very much for reading my guide.

Much love,
AJ Sanchez / Flexpoint


**OTHER GUIDES**
Irelia http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/diamond-descriptive-guide-to-irelia-top-s5-413225

Diana http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/descriptive-guide-to-s5-diana-top-412914

Renekton http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/diamond-descriptive-guide-to-renekton-top-s5-5-8-421182

Cassiopeia http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/diamond-a-descriptive-guide-to-cassiopeia-top-422709

Viktor http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/true-powa-s5-top-lane-guide-400941


All top lane guides*

7/24/2015 - After reviewing this guide, professional top laners, Dyrus, and Calitrlolz8 have brought to my attention that I have very reserve and defensive tendencies in my build. That I prefer Zhonya's Hourglass over Rabadon's Deathcap and Abyssal Mask over Liandry's Torment. I have corrected it by revising my ESSENTIAS items. I have also revised my Author's Notes for the "VS AP HEAVY" build.

Special thanks to those two players for taking the time to review my guide.