Your runes will be oriented for a tanky play and some damages.

-The marks will give you a better ability to trade, as you will get your passive and the Grasp of the Undying faster.

-The Seals are here to grant you a bonus in mid/late game: you'll buy tankyness quite soon, so it's better than the usual Seals of flat armor.

-The Glyphs will be used gain a bit of attack speed or some more magic resist, as you wish, both are good. However, do not take scaling CDR: your items will easily get you to 40% without those.

-The Quints for some damages with your abilities. You can trade them for attack speed quints, or armor, or even hp. However, I think AP or AS are the best ones.

Your masteries are quite normal for a toplaner. You can change them a bit, as you prefer.

HOWEVER

I highly recommend you to ALWAYS choose 4 masteries:

- Fury: 4% attack speed is better than damages on your abilities, as you'll be mostly an auto-attack fighter.

- Vampirism: 2% Lifesteal isn't a lot, but it's always good to have it.

- Runic Armor: NEVER take the other ability. A bonus of 8% on your shield, on your health regen, on your lifesteal, and on the amount of heal you get from the Grasp of the Undying.

- Grasp of the Undying: Of course: you are an auto-attack toplaner who needs long trades to kill, so a bit of sustain is what you need.

Always start with your Q - Crescent Strike, unless you fight a champion that can kill you very quickly in the first levels (like Renekton): in this case, start with the W - Pale Cascade. Max the Q first, to poke ennemies and have less cooldown on it (so you can spam it and use your R - Lunar Rush as much as possible. Then, max the W, to have a better shield for teamfights. Finally, max the E. As usual, take your ultimate at level 6, 11, and 16.


WARNING

NEVER use your R - Lunar Rush twice. Do your Q spell, then dash with your R, auto-attacks on the ennemy, and when you get the cooldown of your Q back, just use it to dash again. Reason: if you trade behind the ennemy minions, or undertower, and the ennemy jungler comes or you just need to run because you're losing the trade, having your R - Lunar Rush to dash on a creep behind you is always good to put some distance between you and your opponents. If they don't have any gapclosers, they will probably flash in (in that case, flash out, and you're safe).

Buy the Bami's Cinder first. It will give you passive damages in trades, which, added to the fact that you have a shield, is going to be very good for you. Then, buy the Sheen quickly. It is a great source of damages for you. If you play against an AP toplaner such as Ryze, you can also start with the Negatron Cloak and then complete the Abyssal Scepter.

Once you have the Sheen, complete the Iceborn Gauntlet: long trades will be easier as you'll slow your ennemy down thanks to its passive. Also, you'll get quite a good amount of CDR and armor. Then, you must finish your Sunfire Cape. Once it's done, you do the Abyssal Scepter, and then all your items are situational.

OFFENSIVE ITEMS

- Nashor's Tooth: a lot of AP and attack speed, with 20% CDR and additional damages on your auto-attacks. Take it when you want to split plush and you dominate the game.

- Wit's End: Magic resist, attack speed and additional damages on your auto-attacks. Use it to split push if you dominate the game but the ennemy team have quite a lot of AP (2 or more), or have an AP champion that scares you a lot (such as LeBlanc).

- Rylai's Crystal Scepter: 100 AP and 400 HP, plus a slow your ennemies when you hit them with a spell? Well, looks like it's a very good items to chase anyone that have some dashes (such as Ekko).

- Frozen Mallet: health, attack damages and a slow when you auto-attack anyone. It's the AD version of the Rylai's Crystal Scepter. Very good indeed to chase anyone.

- Dead Man's Plate: health, armor, more movement when you run, a slow when you hit. Here, the armor version of the Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

DEFENSIVE ITEMS

- Zhonya's Hourglass: AP and armor. Take it when the teamfight is quite difficult for you, and use it properly: go straight to the ennemy backline, use your E - Moonfall, attack a bit and then activate the Hourglass to temporise while your teammates finish the work on the ADC.

- Randuin's Omen: This one must be bought when you fight against champions such as Jhin, Ashe, or Yasuo, to decrease the damages they'll deal with their critics. Also, its active can be used to chase someone.

- Banshee's Veil: If you play against champions that have a lot of CCs, or against a Vayne, you MUST have it to be able to reach the ennemy backline.

- Spirit Visage: It is interesting to buy it when you fight against an AP toplaner in early game, as you'll get magic resist, CDR and a bonus on every source of health regen / heal you can get.

- Sterak's Gage: It is very good when you want to dive, thanks to it's passive ability that grants you a shield when you take a lot of damages. Also, it can be good against champions that are champions that can oneshot, as the shield won't be broken straight away.

You are probably one of the best laners. Really. You have a shield, a slow to continue the trades that your opponent wants to escape from, a dash, and additional damages every 3 auto-attacks. Also, your Q can be used to farm from distance. Before level 6, you should probably only get farm, as you won't have the ability to kill your opponent (unless you have your 3 spells and have taken 3 attack speed Quints). One you have the Bami's Cinder and the Sheen, you'll have enough HP and damages to win trades, so just do it and you'll probably get a kill.

WARNING

DO NOT TRY TRADES IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE CD OF YOUR W - Pale Cascade !! It sounds weird but it is a really strong bonus when you trade, do not act as if it's not worth to wait for it.

In teamfights, you'll have the role of a normal tank: force the focus on you and reach the backline. Not very difficult to do so, as you have a dash! So just dash onto the ennemy midlaner or ADC and attack them. In most cases, the ennemy team will attack you, granting the possibility to strike quickly to your teammates. It can sound a bit harsh, but you'll die in almost every teamfight: it's your role to die while your mates do the damages.

In most cases, teamfights will start without you: you are a splitpusher, so you'll splitpush. So keep your Teleport up to use it when the teamfight starts: you'll come in when the ennemy team will be less tightly gathered around the carries, so just do your job.

- Zed: his ult is a real bonus for him. In most cases, you'll be able to win trades on lane, but he'll wait for you to dive him undertower: DO NOT DO IT ALONE !! He'll just ult on you, after you took the agression of the tower, and then you'll probably die. Also, playing against him is annoying as it forces you to buy a Zhonya's Hourglass first, to escape from his ultimate. Your core items will come very late, so not good at all.

- Teemo: because he's Satan, he's got a blind, and he can poke you a lot to outfarm you easily. Wait for your jungler to kill him, you can't do it alone.

- Trundle: One of the best champions to fight in 1v1: he'll have more sustain thanks to his passive, more attack speed thanks to his W - Frozen Domain, more damages, and he will destroy your tankyness with his ultimate. Unless you destroy him at level 3/4 in a trade, you can't face him.

- Darius: a looooooot of tankyness, of damages, a passive bonus of armor penetration... And of course, a lot more damages if he stacks 5 attacks on you. You need long trades? So does he, and he'll take better profit from a long trade than you. Stay safe.

- Irelia: You'll be able to kill her in 1v1 only before she gets her Trinity Force. After it, she'll have too much damages, too much sustain, and will build tankyness. Probably even better in 1v1 than Trundle, don't try her.

- Shen: No he doesn't deal a lot of damages, but yes he's got a spell that blocks auto-attacks while he can go on attacking you. What, do, you, want, to, do? Just don't trade.

- Akali: If she maxes her Q spell, she'll outdamage you. BUT, as most toplane Akali do now, she will probably max her E! You'll have more damages, a shield, you just can't lose a trade against her.

- Malphite: He can't kill you 1v1, even with his ultimate. If you trade him, you'll win the trade, 100% sure. However, pay attention to the ennemy jungler's position on the map before trading.

- Nautilus: a very good tankyness and good CCs, indeed. But how about you need long trades and he just moves sooooooo slooooooowlyyyyyyyyy that you'll get automatically those long trades? Well, use it well.

- Yasuo: Just because he can ult on your E - Moonfall.

- Gragas: he's one of the best junglers, he'll deal a lot of damages in ganks / teamfights. Also, he can split the teamfight completely with his ultimate, to give you the oportunity to rush onto the ennemy carries.

- Warwick: his ultimate will make any ganks he'll give you a free kill.

- Lulu: You'll be tanky, and have quite good damages. But how about more damages and more tankyness thanks to Lulu's ultimate? DIVE DIVE DIVE you can't die.

- Zilean: his ultimate will make you able to dive and force the focus on you while your teammates deal damages on the carries. Then you'll die, but Zilean's ultimate will make you alive again! Yay, the teamfight's not over!

+ A very good laning phase due to high ability to win trades and good farming ability
+ Very strong to engage the backline with your ultimate
+ Good damages while being very tanky
+ Low cooldowns
+ Very good splitpusher


- Highly dependent of the core items
- Can be easily destroyed by a misplay / gank
- Really need long trades to kill