Galio Build Guide by zatonius

Introduction

Hey there, my name is Zatonius, I am currently a Silver EUNE summoner. This is my first guide and I'd like to show you an untypical build for Galio, who is one of my favorite champions.

As you probably know, Galio usually is the magic-resistance-tanky-counter-mage, a great mid counter for champions like Brand or Cassiopeia. I played him many times as support, mid and top already (always as a mixture of AP and tank). But for long time I was looking for trying to build him differently - as an AD bruiser. I eventually did it in... Jungle!

The guide is crafted for rather experienced players and doesn't contain much details because I am not really deep into such stuff, but let's take a closer look at this crazy idea.

Thanks to Searz and JhoiJhoi for the guides in making guides. You can check those here:

• Searz's
• JhoiJhoi's

Pros & cons

Masteries & runes

Those are my standard jungler's masteries, here's the basic explanation:

Offense

Butcher gives us extra damage in jungle while Feast gives us extra mana/health restored for any monster killed. 3 points in Sorcery might be useful for extra cooldown reaction (which isn't really necessary for jungle Galio) but they are there mostly to unlock Feast.

Defense

Recovery and Perseverance - extra health regen is desired for junglers without early lifesteal. Tough Skin and Bladed Armor are helpful for any jungler. Veteran Scars , Juggernaut and Hardiness as they give extra tankiness are a viable choice for any bruiser.

Utility

Perhaps the most important tree for jungler. Fleet of Foot gains Galio extra movement speed, which is always good for melee champions. Meditation helps us a little when our crest of the ancient golem (blue buff) is over. Summoner's Insight lets us Smite monsters more often. Alchemist and Culinary Master improve the effectiveness of health potions which would make them jungler's best friend but this place is occupied by Runic Affinity , which prolongs buffs duration.

Runes

9x , 9x , 9x , 3x

As for runes, the choice is simple. Go full flat AD. Without it you won't be able to clear the jungle in any reasonable time or add anything but utility to your ganks. Your safety will be granted by Bulwark, skill giving you great armor/magic resistance boost for 4 seconds.

Alternative

3x

If you want to make yourself even faster (which is a good thing for melee champions), you can also try movement speed quints. That's a nice idea because Galio's default movements speed is quite low even with upgraded boots.

You can also try attack speed runes.

Summoner spells

SMITE A must-have for any jungler, especially for Galio who doesn't have any useful abilities for clearing the jungle

_____

FLASH This spell will allow you go through any kind of walls, as Galio doesn't have any dashes. Is also great combined with Galio's ulti, Idol of Durand.

There isn't really any alternative. You can try Ghost instead of Flash for extra movement speed, but that takes gap closing and blink utilities away from you, so I don't recommend it.

Abilities, sequence and explanation

RESOLUTE SMITE

Our Q. Best friend of a ganker! This spell will slow down the enemy by from 24 to 40% of his movement speed. Great for initiation, also helpful in escape. We max it second.

BULWARK

Bulwark is that magic thing which makes Galio a viable jungler and AD dueler - when he casts it on itself, he gets great armor and magic resistance boost and also is healed when he gains damage. We max it first.

RIGHTEOUS GUST

Full utility spell, because the damage from it is rather unsignificant. Although, Righteous Gust speeds up all allies in ability's AoE which makes it great for chasing and escaping. We max it third.

IDOL OF DURAND

Galio's infamous ultimate. AoE taunt which lasts for few seconds makes our ganks extremely efficient, if the enemy won't Flash away. Of course we max it as fast as possible.

Alternative

You might want to max Resolute Smite first RIGHT AFTER you get 3 points in Bulwark. Why is that? Upgraded Resolute Smite slows enemies much better, a utility never overrated on ganks. You cannot forget though, Bulwark is the ability which makes AD Galio viable, so early 3 points in that spell is a must.

Item build

Like any other jungler, we start with Hunter's Machete and 5 Health Potions. Then we try to farm up Wriggle's Lantern as fast as possible, because it boosts up heavily jungle clearing pace and gives Galio extra gold for jungling. A little chunk of armor will be helpful as well. If possible, try to get also Boots of Speed at first recall.

After that, your priority is Tiamat and more movement speed, because Galio is quite slow for meelee champion. Why Tiamat? This is the item I usually take on junglers without viable clearing/farming abilities. It allows us to clean the jungle in a blink and also farm a bit, pushing the lanes if necessary. After Tiamat we buy Berserker's Greaves (best friend of most bruisers) with Enchantment: Alacrity, then upgrade to Ravenous Hydra for extra sustain in battles.

Next - Phage because of passive (utility for chasing) and extra health - upgrade to Trinity Force as soon as possible, which will give us even more movement speed, even more health, attack speed, attack damage and passive adding 200% of our attack damage to next basic attack after using any of your abilities.

Vampiric Scepter will improve the sustain, while its upgrade to The Bloodthirster will add superior attack damage you will need as a bruiser. Last, but not least is Mercurial Scimitar, this one will give you magic resistance (which apart from extra tankiness will make your abilities hurt a little bit more because of Galio's passive, Runic Skin), another AD boost and active, allowing you to escape in tough situations or chase down that last enemy needed for ace.

I recommend Warding Totem for your trinket, because along with Wriggle's Lantern active it will help you in maintaining team vision on the map, but that's my personal preference, you might take Sweeping Lens as well.

Alternative

If you want to give away your damage in favor of becoming the team (off)tank, replace The Bloodthirster and Mercurial Scimitar with Frozen Mallet and Guardian Angel. In that case, Frozen Mallet's passive will make you even more supportive, however your damage and sustain will be extremely lowered (to nearly nothing), because Galio doesn't have any attack speed/AD boost abilities which would make him dangerous while still tanky (like Pantheon or Xin Zhao).

How to play AD jungle Galio

You start the game of course from taking down ancient golem for the blue buff. If you won't get good help at blue, skip the wight and go for wolves camp. But if you killed the ancient golem smiteless, smite the wight, then wolves. Next stop is of course lizard elder , the keeper of red buff.

When you get 3rd level you can make your first gank. Pick the lane wisely! Galio does not have viable crowd control abilities or noticeable chunk of damage at this point. For successful gank would be best to help the laner with early reliable CC, like snare or stun. For solo lanes would be great if the laner could deal also early burst. Good examples are Pantheon, Darius, Lux. As for bottom ganks - CC is supports job, so let this Blitzcrank, Thresh, Taric, Nami or Janna initiate it, then jump in.

Your role in this first gank is to slow down the opponent with your Q ( Resolute Smite), smack his face with your basic attack fist punch, then cast E ( Righteous Gust) for the chase (possibly punching enemies and casting W ( Bulwark) to shield yourself or the teammate). If your allied laners did not fall asleep, you might kill the enemy, but if not, that's not a big deal. Your real ganking utility will come after 6th lvl.

Right after you will get the ultimate, Idol of Durand, your next gank has much higher chances of succeeding. The combo is Flash, then R, so don't hestitate to use it. That's 2 seconds of AoE taunt, bonus points for catching the opponent under your turret (taunt will make him catch turret's attention). Then the scheme is the same: Q ( Resolute Smite) and E ( Righteous Gust). The only drawback of your awesome ulti is its long cooldown, so make sure you don't waste it. Communicate with teammates so they can attack in time!

After the laning phase, you have to maintain the balance of farming in both jungle and lanes, and helping your teammates. Wriggle's Lantern = more money from jungle. Remember, that Galio is very supportive champ, so let others benefit from your utility. Righteous Gust might secure many escapes, Bulwark turns that squishy carry into unbeatable killing machine for few seconds. Idol of Durand combined with Flash has countless applications, from taking down their carry to rescuing yours, when he gets focused.

Don't be afraid of initiating teamfights (well, maybe not vs all 5 of enemies). Bulwark will make you tanky enough to act like a real bruiser and lifesteal sustain won't allow them to take you down easily.

Push lanes, take down turrets. You have this Ravenous Hydra for a reason, right? Combine it with Resolute Smite to exterminate minions in no-time. More farm means higher lvl, more gold, more items. Pushed lanes mean turrets exposed for attack. Less enemy turrets mean your team being closer to their inhibitors, then their nexus - winning the game!

Explanations to any doubts

Why not Mercurial Scimitar, Maw of Malmortius, Wit's End? They would make Galio hybrid!

That's true, those items would make Galio's hybrid build, giving him AD, attack speed, magic resistance and ability power (from Runic Skin passive). One step from there to Hextech Gunblade, right? However, both Mercurial Scimitar and Maw of Malmortius are hella expensive and won't provide any sustain for Galio. Bulwark's healing itself is too weak to maintain the sustain by itself.



In this chapter I will try to answer to any wise questions concerning this guide.

Summary

Well, that's it for my guide. Perhaps playing AD Galio is not a best idea for ranked games, but is a fun, alternative way to play this champion. If you have any question related to the guide, feel free to ask them.

Have fun breaking the meta!