[Important] The build at the top of this guide is updated, but the rest of the guide is still being worked on!

Hello everybody and welcome to my Galio guide. Galio is a very versatile champion that can be played viably in any lane. Mid is his best lane though, as an anti-mage mage with his passive Runic Skin. But he can also be played perfectly well as a solotop tank/bruiser or bot support/tank.

In this guide I will discuss three different Galio builds, one AP mid, one tank and one support. I will go over Galio's abilities, runes, masteries, summoner spells playing style and more. If necessary, I will discuss these topic separately for each role.

I hope you guys find my guide useful. Please give me feedback and rate this guide, so I can improve it. Also, feel free to ask questions.

Since this guide is my most popular one (nr. 1 Galio guide on MOBAFIRE), I will go ahead and prommote my other guides a bit. Please check them out too, they are just as good as this one :)

• My Zyra guide - Support and mage guide.
• My ARAM guide - Everything you need to know for The Proving Grounds.
• My Anivia guide - Including 3 different builds, gameplay and matchups.
• My Hecarim guide - Jungle and solotop. Also with jungle route and jungling/ganking tips.
• My Jayce guide - Solotop, jungle or AD carry. With all his awesome combos explained.
• My Leona guide - Number 1 Leona guide on MOBAFIRE.
• My Graves guide - Including support and opponent matchups.

Note - read before voting please!

If you're going to vote, please comment and make sure you've read the relevant parts of the guide first. Please don't downvote just because you don't like X item, or X rune. I explain every choice in my guide and give many alternatives. If you don't like something, comment and I will reply and consider changing it.

08-09-13 Updated item builds.

13-03-12 Completely redesigned the guide and updated the build.

12-01-13 1 million views!

08-12-12 This guide is now updated for the preseason 3 patch.

15-09-12 Made more changes to the layout and the ability sequences.

11-09-12 Made some major changes to the guide layout. Also changed the build a little bit.

09-09-12 Added a chapter about warding.

29-08-12 Added other good items to the Items chapter. Added ability images.

17-08-12 Changed the quints for the mage build to flat AP.

04-08-12 Made some changes to the rune choices and layout.

28-07-12 Made some major changes to the item builds (mainly for the tank build). These changes are mainly based on feedback I got.

25-07-12 Just came back from my vacation in Portugal (and immediately turned on my laptop of course) and saw that my Galio guide is now NUMBER ONE ON MOBAFIRE!!! Thanks everybody!

08-07-12 Changed some item builds and explanations slightly.

08-06-12 Added one more build to the guide.

07-06-12 My guide just made it into the top 5 Galio guides!!! Can it get even higher? Please tell me how I can improve it further!

28-05-12 Updated the entire guide layout.

27-05-12 Added Athene's Unholy Grail, the new item made for Galio.

If you want to know if Galio fits your style, this list might help you out.

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Pros Very versatile. Counter to most AP champions. Can carry. Tanky, even if played AP, thanks to his passive. Strong even without damage, thanks to his CC.

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Cons Is melee, which can be a problem early on. Needs items to be tanky. No strong, built-in gap closer. With tenacity, enemies can walk out of your ult without taking damage. His ult can be easily interrupted by certain enemies.

Galio can cover many roles and build in many different ways. It's possible to play him either top, mid or support in my opinion. He can fill the role of a mage, bruiser, tank or support tank, depending on how much gold he gets and what his team needs. In this guide I've included builds for solo-lane Galio and support Galio.

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Solo-lane Galio In mid- or top-lane, you will be able to farm and get big items. Your build should focus on AP and tankiness (mainly MR). In mid-lane, Galio can win 1v1 against other mages, simply because of his passive, Runic Skin. This makes him very strong in lane. In top-lane, against AD champions, Galio can also do well because he can farm well from a distance whatever happens. He just needs enough mana items. You will almost always be able to farm, but even if you can't, you will still be useful to your team with your CC.

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Support Galio A less obvious role for Galio, but he is actually a pretty good support. In lane, you have a lot of poke and a shield to protect your carry. You can also sustain yourself, just not your carry. Late-game you will transition into a very strong support tank with a large amount of utility and aura's. You will be able to help your team in many ways.

I will now discuss my rune choices as a solo-laner. I will also give some other rune choices that might be good in certain situations.

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Pretty much the only choice you have as a mage. They increase your early-game damage significantly by making you ignore some of your enemy's MR. Other options: not much.

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Galio has some mana problems early on, but when he gets his Chalice of Harmony they fade away. This means you don't really need mana regen seals in my opinion, but you could take some. The extra armor really helps you against auto-attack harass in lane and in teamfights. Other options: to harass more. for even more lategame MR and AP. for more flat MR and AP.

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Galio scales well with MR thanks to his passive, Runic Skin. In lane, you are most likely fighting a mage, so early MR will help a lot against poking. Other options: if you want a stronger late-game. for more AP but less MR.

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Usually the best for AP champions. An extra 15 AP at level 1 greatly increases your early damage. This makes it easier to kill your opponent or force him out of lane. Other options: for more early-game tankiness. for more MR late-game. against agressive enemies.

These are my rune choices as a support. They are similar to the solo-lane runes, but there are some differences. Alternative choices are also included.

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Even as a support, extra damage is very useful. Use it to poke as much as possible (as long as you have the mana). Other options: not much.

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In bottom lane, the main source of damage will be the enemy AD carry in most situations. To counteract that damage, you need as much early armor as possible. Other options: not much.

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Unless you're against a high damage/poke support, you won't need a ton of MR in lane. Later on it is obviously great to have more against mages. Other options: against scary burst/poke supports. for more damage late-game.

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Supports need the extra gold income to compensate no kills or farm. These runes will basically give one free sight ward every 4 minutes or so. Other options: for more poke damage. for more survivability.

Solo-lane Galio has a lot of options for his masteries. I generally like to take a combination of offense, defense and utility, as Galio benefits greatly from all 3 trees. The page I use most of the time is 9-12-9, which is explained in detail below. Other options are 9-14-7, 21-9-0, 9-21-0, 0-21-9 and more. In toplane I like to take more points in defense and get Unyielding and Block , which are really good in trades.

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3

Some helpful CDR.

1

Assuming your ignite is on cooldown in most all-in fights (it should be), this will give you 5 extra AP when you need it most.

4

Pretty decent. 18 AP is non-trivial. Combined with a Rabadon's Deathcap it will give you 25 AP.

1

Great mastery. Ignoring 8% of the enemy's MR is a big deal late-game.

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4

A nice amount of extra health.

3

5 armor is pretty good against harass from auto-attacks and othe physical damage.

3

Obvious choice, more MR and more AP.

1

Decent amount of extra health.

1

Pretty much a free point. This will help you initiate a bit more easily.

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1

Flash is a really important spell for Galio, it should be up as much aspossible.

3

Helps you out in the early laning-phase.

3

To get your Flash cooldown even lower.

1

A little bit of extra mana.

1

For a longer blue buff.

As a support you also have a lot of different options. You generally want to take most points in utility, for useful support masteries. But you still benefit a lot from offense and defence. Possibilties are, among others, 9-9-12, 1-17-12, 0-9-21 and 0-13-17. I will explain my standard 9-9-12 build below.

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3

Some helpful CDR.

1

For improved Exhaust.

4

Pretty decent. 18 AP is non-trivial. Combined with a Rabadon's Deathcap it will give you 25 AP.

1

Great mastery. Ignoring 8% of the enemy's MR is a big deal late-game.

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2

Some extra health.

2

Great against the large amount of minion damage you will be taking in exchanges in top-lane.

2

Pretty good against harass from auto-attacks and othe physical damage.

2

Strong on Galio, and helps against the enemy support.

1

Offers pretty good damage reduction against turrets. Helpful when diving.

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1

Flash is a really important spell for Galio, you it should be up as much aspossible.

3

Helps you out in the early laning-phase.

2

A little bit of extra mana.

2

Extremely important mastery on support Galio. You will buy many important activated items, so this will greatly increase their potential.

4

Good amount of extra gold. You'll need it as a support.

As a solo-laner, you will be able to buy big items because of the amount of farm you can get. You should focus on a good mix of damage and tankiness. It all depends on how the game is going. If your team lacks magic damage, you should get more damage to make up for it. If your team needs a tank, you should build tanky. MR is great on Galio, but remember you will also need other stats.

Start

sight ward

Start 1 This is almost always the best start. You will get good sustain and also a sight ward for safety until your first recall. This will allow you to stay in lane long enough and not miss out on valuable early EXP and gold. You will most likely be able to at least buy a Chalice of Harmony on your first recall.

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Start 2 This is a very risky start but it can pay off. You won't have a lot of potions and no wards, so if the enemy jungler pays attention, you can get in trouble. However, a Null-Magic Mantle will give you insane stats from level 1 in terms of MR and AP. You will be able to win trades with other AP champions very easily and you might be able to force them out of lane or get a kill quickly.

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sight ward

Start 3 This start will give you a lot of sustain and the ward will definitely help you. The advantage of Crystalline Flask over potions is that it refills every time you go back to base, so you won't have to keep buying potions.

Early

Chalice of Harmony A very core item for Galio because it has all the stats you need for an easy laning phase. Mana regen will allow you to push and harass without running out of mana too quickly. The MR will simply make you outdamage your opponent in trades, even if you don't land all your abilities.

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Mercury's Treads Most likely your boots of choice. They will help against CC and will give you more MR and AP.

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catalyst the protector

catalyst the protector A very strong item in lane because it gives you a lot of sustain through its passive. The extra health and mana also help when fighting.

Core

Athene's Unholy Grail The upgrade for Chalice of Harmony and the perfect item for Galio. AP, MR and mana regen are all very important and will make you very strong early- and mid-game. It helps you in lane and is good to rush.

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Rod of Ages Offers a good amount of health, mana and AP, and even more over time. This will make you tanky and will also give extra damage. It takes 10 minutes to stack up, so get it as early as possible.

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Rabadon's Deathcap An important item for almost any AP mid champion. It will be your main damage item and it will make it hard for people to ignore you in teamfights.

Options

Spirit Visage I don't think there's much need to explain why this item is good on Galio. It gives very important defensive stats, CDR and a great passive. This will make you heal for huge amounts with your Bulwark. On top of that, it has a very easy build path.

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Abyssal Mask This is probably the most cost-efficient item on Galio and it will make you dominate any AP champion in a 1v1 fight. You will get a total of 93 AP from this item. One drawback is that the aura has a short range.

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Liandry's Torment This item will increase your damage by a lot. You will make squishy champions even squishier with the magic pen, and the %-health damage works well against tanks with a lot of health. You will also be able to trigger the double damage very often, since your Q and ult both impair movement.

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Twin Shadows More of a support type item, but it still works well on many mages, including Galio. You can use the active to catch people to make up for your lack of strong initiation. The MR and AP obviously doesn't hurt either.

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Guardian Angel This is a really strong item if you're not really building tanky. It allows you to pretty much suicide-initiate without dying. If you get some health to back up the MR and armor, you will actually become really tanky ( bulark also helps).

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Banshee's Veil It gives a very nice combination of stats for Galio. The spellshield is the most important part though. It offers extra protection when you're channeling your ult and might block an interrupting spell, allowing you to channel longer.

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Warmog's Armor This is obviously a great item if you want to take the role of a tank for your team. With the armor and MR you get from Bulwark, this will make you incredibly hard to kill.

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Zhonya's Hourglass Though it doesn't really work well in combination with your ult (it cancels your ult). This is a very good item for pretty much any mage. It's all about the active. If you time it well you can prevent a lot of damage/CC. A great combo id to ult the enemy team (now they can only auto-attack you) and activate Zhonya's Hourglass immediately after. This allows you to initiate without dying and buys your team time to follow up.

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Randuin's Omen Works extremely well against physical damage for obvious reasons. The active offers a good amount of extra CC in combination with your ult. You can use it before or after. Try to use it on the enemy AD carry.

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Void Staff Really good if the enemy builds a lot of MR. The more MR they build, the more you will penetrate. This item will allow you to still do good damage.

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Frozen Heart Offers great stats for Galio (armor, CDR and mana). The passive works really well against AD carries. When they are forced to attack you when you taunt them, their AS will be reduced. However, it might cause your ult to deal less damage if you take less than 8 auto-attacks.

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Locket of the Iron Solari It's always good to have at least one of these on your team. If no one else is buying it, you can do it. It provides good tank stats and a nice aura and active.

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Sunfire Aegis Good against AD champions. If you lane against a physical damage dealer, you can rush this item. The passive deals a good amount of AoE damage, especially early-game. Later on it's less effective though, because it doesn't scale with levels, so it's better to get this item early.

Enchantments

Enchantment: Captain Generally the best enchantment for Galio. When you initiate, the extra MS for your teammates will allow them to follow up more easily. You will also be able to push faster thanks to the bonus MS to nearby minions.

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Enchantment: Distortion This enchantment good for obvious reasons. Flash is a really important spell for Galio, so reducing the cooldown can be very impactful.

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Enchantment: Homeguard This is pretty much a must-have if your base is under attack. Besides that, it's also very good late-game, when a few extra seconds can mean the game.

As a support, you obviously won't get as much gold as a solo-laner. On top of that, you will have to spend a lot of that gold on wards. This means you won't be able to buy many expensive damage items, and instead will have to focus on cheaper support/tank items. If you're doing really well and are getting a lot of assists/kills, you can still buy AP and transition into an AP tank. Just do what you think is best for the team.

Start

sight ward sight wardsight ward

Start 1 Faerie Charm is always a very safe start. This start will most likely get you through the first few minutes of the game. You have some sustain and a decent amount of wards.

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sight wardsight ward

Start 2 This is pretty much the norm in higher levels of play. If you can win the vision war, you will force the enemy duo to play scared or get ganked. With this start you probably will not get ganked.

Early

Chalice of Harmony A very core item for Galio because it has all the stats you need for an easy laning phase. Mana regen will allow you to push and harass without running out of mana too quickly. The MR will simply make you outdamage your opponent in trades, even if you don't land all your abilities.

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Mercury's Treads Most likely your boots of choice. They will help against CC and will give you more MR and AP.

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catalyst the protector

catalyst the protector A very strong item in lane because it gives you a lot of sustain through its passive. The extra health and mana also help when fighting.

Core

Athene's Unholy Grail The upgrade for Chalice of Harmony and the perfect item for Galio. AP, MR and mana regen are all very important and will make you very strong early- and mid-game. It helps you in lane and is good to rush.

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Rod of Ages Offers a good amount of health, mana and AP, and even more over time. This will make you tanky and will also give extra damage. It takes 10 minutes to stack up, so get it as early as possible.

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Rabadon's Deathcap An important item for almost any AP mid champion. It will be your main damage item and it will make it hard for people to ignore you in teamfights.

Options

Spirit Visage I don't think there's much need to explain why this item is good on Galio. It gives very important defensive stats, CDR and a great passive. This will make you heal for huge amounts with your Bulwark. On top of that, it has a very easy build path.

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Abyssal Mask This is probably the most cost-efficient item on Galio and it will make you dominate any AP champion in a 1v1 fight. You will get a total of 93 AP from this item. One drawback is that the aura has a short range.

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Liandry's Torment This item will increase your damage by a lot. You will make squishy champions even squishier with the magic pen, and the %-health damage works well against tanks with a lot of health. You will also be able to trigger the double damage very often, since your Q and ult both impair movement.

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Twin Shadows More of a support type item, but it still works well on many mages, including Galio. You can use the active to catch people to make up for your lack of strong initiation. The MR and AP obviously doesn't hurt either.

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Guardian Angel This is a really strong item if you're not really building tanky. It allows you to pretty much suicide-initiate without dying. If you get some health to back up the MR and armor, you will actually become really tanky ( bulark also helps).

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Banshee's Veil It gives a very nice combination of stats for Galio. The spellshield is the most important part though. It offers extra protection when you're channeling your ult and might block an interrupting spell, allowing you to channel longer.

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Warmog's Armor This is obviously a great item if you want to take the role of a tank for your team. With the armor and MR you get from Bulwark, this will make you incredibly hard to kill.

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Zhonya's Hourglass Though it doesn't really work well in combination with your ult (it cancels your ult). This is a very good item for pretty much any mage. It's all about the active. If you time it well you can prevent a lot of damage/CC. A great combo id to ult the enemy team (now they can only auto-attack you) and activate Zhonya's Hourglass immediately after. This allows you to initiate without dying and buys your team time to follow up.

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Randuin's Omen Works extremely well against physical damage for obvious reasons. The active offers a good amount of extra CC in combination with your ult. You can use it before or after. Try to use it on the enemy AD carry.

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Void Staff Really good if the enemy builds a lot of MR. The more MR they build, the more you will penetrate. This item will allow you to still do good damage.

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Frozen Heart Offers great stats for Galio (armor, CDR and mana). The passive works really well against AD carries. When they are forced to attack you when you taunt them, their AS will be reduced. However, it might cause your ult to deal less damage if you take less than 8 auto-attacks.

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Locket of the Iron Solari It's always good to have at least one of these on your team. If no one else is buying it, you can do it. It provides good tank stats and a nice aura and active.

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Sunfire Aegis Good against AD champions. If you lane against a physical damage dealer, you can rush this item. The passive deals a good amount of AoE damage, especially early-game. Later on it's less effective though, because it doesn't scale with levels, so it's better to get this item early.

Enchantments

Enchantment: Captain Generally the best enchantment for Galio. When you initiate, the extra MS for your teammates will allow them to follow up more easily. You will also be able to push faster thanks to the bonus MS to nearby minions.

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Enchantment: Distortion This enchantment good for obvious reasons. Flash is a really important spell for Galio, so reducing the cooldown can be very impactful.

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Enchantment: Homeguard This is pretty much a must-have if your base is under attack. Besides that, it's also very good late-game, when a few extra seconds can mean the game.

Without abilities, all Galio can do is punch some enemies in the face (in other words, he is useless). Galio's abilities are pretty easy to use but they do require some practice. You have to know when and how to use them.

Ability explanations

Runic Skin Galio's passive. This is what makes Galio unique and insanely strong against casters. Pretty easy to understand: half your MR is turned into extra AP. You should consider this when buying items, but only up to a certain point. Don't buy MR against a full AD team for example.

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Resolute Smite Image: Spoiler: Click to view A skillshot AoE damage and slow ability. It does very good damage with enough AP. Good for chasing down enemies. You can also use it to farm in combination with Righteous Gust (this will kill all the ranged minions instantly). When you have your Chalice of Harmony you can start using it more and choose to push your lane or to harass. If your lane opponent is close to some low-HP minions, you can even do both at the same time. The AoE radius is pretty big so you can hit a lot of enemies if they are grouped up.

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Bulwark Image: Spoiler: Click to view A very strong shield targeted that heals you if the shield's target takes damage. Learn to select your target and time it well, or it will be useless. In lane you can use it to heal by shielding yourself and taking minion aggro or other low-damage attacks. The shield even gives 15-45 AP because of your passive. As a caster, I max it last to increase the damage on my other abilities, but as a support it is very useful early. It's always good to self-cast Bulwark right before you ult, to increase your AP and take less damage.

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Righteous Gust Image: Spoiler: Click to view Also does good damage, but less than Resolute Smite, so level it later. After casting, a gust of wind remains in it's trail. Allies walking in the direction of the wind are sped up. This ability is good as a gap closer and initiation. You can save yourself or running allies if you can get next to them and cast it in the direction they're running. Remember that the speed buff only works in one direction.

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Idol of Durand Image: Spoiler: Click to view Galio's ultimate. This is one of the strongest ultimates in the game. If you can get in the center of the enemy team and use this, you can easily win a teamfight. The strongest part of this ability is the fact that it locks up enemies for 2 seconds, but it also deals huge AoE damage when played AP.

Ability sequence

Solo-lane
> > >
When playing in a solo-lane, I go for the maximum damage output. My ability priority is R-Q-E-W. I take a point in Bulwark early to escape sticky situantions and have more sustain. Leveling Resolute Smite gives a bigger increase in damage than leveling Righteous Gust.

Support
> > >
As support, max Resolute Smite first for high poke damage. Max Bulwark second so you can protect your carry and heal a little. If you're getting poked heavily, max Bulwark first.

Combos

Galio isn't really combo based but here are some things you can do:

• Q-E. This is your standard burst. It can take a squishy down to 50% HP. Use this to poke in lane and before teamfights. You can use W to give yourself some extra AP and do more damage.
• Q-E-W-R. This is your initiation or killing move. Close the gap by slowing enemies and speeding yourself up. Use W to protect yourself and R to lock up your enemies. Additionally, you can use Flash to close the gap and Heal to stay alive. This can easily turn a fight around.

My choice

Flash Great spell for escaping or chasing, but even more useful for initiating. An unexpected Flash into the enemy team, followed by Idol of Durand will give your team a huge advantage in the following fight. Learn how to use Flash and time it well. This will make you a much stronger Galio.

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Ignite Take it as caster Galio to use as a finisher. This is pretty much it's only use. It's also great against enemies with tons of lifesteal/spell vamp/health regen. It's a pretty standard choice for casters and Galio is no exception.

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Exhaust Pretty much a must-have as a support. Exhaust the enemy AD carry to win fights. You can also take this when you're going solotop.

Other viable choices

Ghost Serves the same purpose as Flash, escape and initiate, but isn't as good in my opinion. Flash is usually better for escaping because you can go through walls with it. Flash is better for initiating because it is instant and less predictable.

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Heal A good spell for tank Galio. Use it to bait enemies and let them get close to you. Then use Heal, Bulwark and Idol of Durand for the penta-kill!

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Teleport Can be a great spell if you have a well-coördinated team. You can use it to gank other lanes or get back to your lane quickly. Late-game, you can split-push easily with it.

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Clairvoyance Always an option. It's pretty much never the best choice though, but feel free to try it out.

How to lane with Galio, of course depends on your role and the lane you're playing in. Here are some tips on how to lane with Galio.

Solo-lane

You will play in midlane or toplane (most likely midlane). Your main goal should be to outlane your opponent and help out other lanes by ganking if you can. If your opponent is winning, play defensive and request ganks. As long as you don't feed, it's fine. If you're playing against a mage, it should be pretty easy, just buy MR and AP and do twice as much damage as him. Against AD-based champions it's more difficult. In a 1v1 fight they will most likely beat you. Try to stay at range and poke them down with your abilities. Stay in lane as long as possible. At the very least, try to stay until you have 500 gold, enough for your Chalice of Harmony. After this, you can spam a lot more. When your opponent gets low, you can try to finish him with Resolute Smite, Righteous Gust, Idol of Durand and Ignite. Galio can easily push the lane with his abilities so you can choose to do this and gank other lanes.

Support

As a support you should play in botlane with your AD carry. Your goals are different here. You should always try to protect your carry (die to save his life if you have to), ward and don't feed too much. As a support, it's not a big deal if you die, as long as it helped the team. Try to keep it limited though, a KD of 0/10 won't help your team because you can't do anything when you're dead. Help your carry beat the other carry by protecting him, poking your opponents and netting kills for him. With your ult, you can get kills very well, especially if your jungler also comes to gank. Since Galio doesn't have a good healing ability (besides his shield, which you can use to heal by putting it on yourself and tanking some minions), try not to get poked too much. Always keep your lane warded to watch for incoming ganks. Counter the enemy support by buying Vision Wards and Oracle's Elixir if necessary.

Green - Lane-safety wards.
Aqua - General map vision wards.
Yellow - Dragon/Baron control wards.
Red - Counter-jungle wards.
Blue - Buff-defense wards.
Purple - Late-game wards.

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Warding is a very crucial part of being a support. Above is a map with the most important ward locations. This map assumes you're on the blue side. If you're on the purple side, you should swap the red and blue dots. There are a lot of other places you can ward, but they are more situational. So when and where should you ward?

At the start of the game, you might want to place a ward somewhere in the enemy jungle to catch their jungler. Do this if you have a jungler and mid with good map-awareness and cooperation. It will maybe allow you to kill the enemy jungler for first blood (and hurt his jungle really bad). At the very least it will give you information about his location, which might allow for counter-jungling or agression in lanes.

In the laning phase, you should keep your lane warded against ganks constantly, no matter how many wards in takes. The new Sightstone will help you with this. If you're really ahead you might get away with not warding, but don't expect that. Use the green dots on the map above. It depends on the side you're on. On the blue side, you might have to ward the tri-bush and somewhere near dragon to always see ganks coming. On the purple side, one ward is enough to keep you safe. When you or your AD carry are getting zoned by the enemy support sitting in a lane bush, you might want to ward there to push him out of it. This also prevents so-called 'ninja-ganks' from junglers (they sneak into a lane bush when the lane is pushed towards you and then come out when it's pushed back). You should also keep dragon warded as much as possible (your jungler should ward it too). It's good to have a Vision Ward to get rid of enemy wards if you know where they are. This will allow your jungler to gank. If you're confident you won't die, and you think it's worth it, buy an Oracle's Elixir. Generally I buy 2-3 wards on every recall. This is usually enough.

Later on, or if needed sooner, you can roam a little, warding places in the jungle or near other lanes. Use the blue dots on the map if your jungler is getting countered a lot. These are more important if one or more of your turrets is down. Use the red dots if you want to invade and counter-jungle. Use the aqua dots for general map vision. The yellow dots should be pink-warded as much as possible, because Baron and Dragon are very important objectives to control.

Mid-game you can pretty much go anywhere. Try to roam with your entire team, taking out enemy wards and placing your wards everywhere. This will give your team a lot of map control and will enable safer pushing and jungling. It can also set you up for a Baron or Dragon attempt or a good teamfight.

The purple dots on the map are helpful when you're pushing hard or the enemy is pushing hard. They will tell you in advance where your enemies are going, so you can react.

There isn't much more I can tell you about warding. You really have to play many games as support to learn everything about it. Just try to follow these instructions and see how far you can get. Other things you will learn by playing.

Galio counters most others in midlane. There are some champions he is very good against and some he is not that good against. In this section I will give some examples of matchups with Galio with explanations. Generally, Galio counters mages with high burst or damage over time.

Galio is good against

Cassiopeia Cassiopeia has a lot of damage over time with her poison. The poison stays on you for a pretty long time but it doesn't do much damage each tick. This is where your Bulwark comes in. It's just hilarious walking into her poison on purpose and popping your shield on yourself to heal for more damage then you take. Max your shield second in lane against her so you can take full advantage of this.

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Brand A burst and DoT mage. Brand can hit his entire combo on you and still only take away 25% of your health (where it would take 75%-100% health from a champion with less MR). After this, Brand will have everything on cooldown and a lot less mana. Also, you will take damage over time from his passive Blaze. Just use your shield at this point to heal a large part of the damage back.

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Veigar The definition of a burst mage. Veigar can use all his spells on someone in half a second and instantly kill them. But not on Galio. You can walk away alive and counter-attack. A Veigar with everything on cooldown will be extremely vulnerable. Try to prevent him from farming so he can't get his bonus AP from Baleful Strike.

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LeBlanc Another extreme burst mage. Similar to Veigar, she is expected to one-shot people, but she can't one-shot Galio. Resist her burst and she's left defenceless.

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Most mages Of course, Galio counters pretty much any mage because of his passive. Some are easier to play against, some are more difficult.

Galio is bad against

Talon You might play against him in mid or top. Obviously your passive is useless against him, because he is AD-based. On top of that, he has a nasty silence and burst. The fact that you're melee doesn't make things easier. It means that you'll have to come close to him to farm sometimes. Try to stay at range when playing against him. Your ranged spells are your advantage. Poke him when possible, preferably when his cutthroat is on cooldown so he can't easily dodge it. Use your shield when he uses Noxian Diplomacy to heal on the DoT.

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Udyr A toplane counter. He deals part physical damage so your passive is less useful. The worst part is though, he can use Blazing Stampede, walk into your ultimate range and stun you with an auto-attack, interrupting your ultimate. You can buy some MR against him because he also has a lot of magic damage, just not as much as you'd like. Try to cast your ultimate only quickly after he's stunned you (he won't be able to stun you again so soon) or when he's in a different stance. If he's not in Blazing Stampede, make sure he's inside your ultimate so he can't change stance and walk into it anyway.

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Morgana One of the few mages that can be strong against Galio. She is tanky and can sustain well in lane. Even though she won't do that much damage, her CC can make you susceptible to ganks. Her Tormented Shadow lowers your magic resist and thus your AP as well. Lategame her ultimate is a great counter to your's because it will stun you after a few seconds, leaving you unable to use your ultimate in that time. In lane, you can heal a little with your shield by standing on Tormented Shadow. You can also poke her down if you can prevent her from spell-vamping back enough health. In teamfights, always wait until her ultimate ends before you cast your ultimate, or cast it before she starts channeling and when she is in range, so she can't cast it.

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Janna Very difficult to play against since she can interrupt your ultimate easily from a distance. She can do this with either Howling Gale or Monsoon. This makes it very difficult for you to use your ultimate in teamfights. You have to either catch her in your ultimate so she can't do anything, or wait until she has everything on cooldown. This will still make you weaker in teamfights but at least you can use your ultimate.

Galio is a very strong and awesome champion. He can do well in any lane. He's pretty easy to play, but hard to master, so he's a good champion to improve your skills with. He's definitely one of the stronger champions in the game so he's a very good pick in high level games. Galio is fun to play and is definitely worth trying out. He's also very good in solo queue because you can carry really well with him.

So thanks for reading my guide (or at least for looking at the build). I hope you liked it. Please leave a comment and a rating so I can get more attention and so I will know what to improve. Thanks!