Galio is not seen as Support often for a reason.

This guide is a very situational - yet effective build I have designed for a champion that sees little play (especially as support). This is not something to use in most games you will play, but the few situations that I describe using it in allow it to work.

This guide is also not intended for HIGH RANKED COMPETETIVE PLAY. I am a Platinum player, but do not use this build in Plat ranked games. Typically, I will use it in normals games, but I have successfully applied this build/strategy in ranked play in Silver and Gold.

Use this build if you:
a) enjoy doing something different than the meta
b) are good at counter-building against the enemy team (good item knowledge helps)
c) a gold player or lower and plan on using it in ranked
d) ONLY, ONLY, ONLY if you are counter-picking the enemy team in champ select. You never want to pick Galio support early in champ select. If you are 4th or 5th pick and the enemy is stacking AP champs - then you have your opportunity.
e) looking to have a fun time. Galio support is incredibly entertaining, especially when you do a good job.

|||||||||||||||| NOTE: skip this section if you are not interested in my explanation of Taric's viability and how it hints at Galio's own potential.|||||||||||||

* the Galio Support Counterpick comes into play similarly to how I would suggest picking Taric.
- I roll with the Gem Knight against an AD heavy team comp (3-4 members AD)
- Taric's Shatter (W) gives an armor aura equal to 12% of his total armor to nearby allies (as well as increases his own armor each rank) WHILE NOT ON COOLDOWN
- This in mind, as well as that Taric's moves scale with armor - against an all AD team you can just stack armor at extreme cost efficiency.
- If you don't get owned too hard in lane as Taric (which is hard to considering his target-stun, tankiness, 2-man heal; an incredible advantage in lane coupled with the natural tankiness, and decent burst damage.) once team fights start happening you will be obnoxiously difficult to kill
- In the late game with your finished armor items he provides a ridiculous armor aura for your team (I have reached near +50 armor aura late game)
- ^ above is why why to pick Taric in these situations rather than blindly locking in Leona, Blitz, Thresh or Braum simply because they are "strong picks."


* Comparatively to Taric, Galio's ability to counter AP champions is potentially as useful as Taric's to AD champs.
- Galio's Passive grants him 1 ability power per 2 magic resist. (Late game after you have stacked MR and become a resilient beast you will also have a surprising amount of poke/damage from this)
- Against a team where EVERYONE is AP (other than the ADC, which at times could still be dealing some AP - ex: corki) being Galio in the botlane can bring an incredibly profound impact in the late game.

* There are plenty of MR items that work well on Galio Support.
- Relic Shield and Ancient Coin are both an option for starting item. Relic Shield works well on Galio because it will make him tankier, and allows him to execute minions and share gold with your carry because he is melee.
- The coin is also a good option if you think you will get poked too much going in to CS with Relic Shield and will give you some mana and hp sustain as well as gold.
- Talisman of Ascension and Face of the Mountain are both great on him late. Determine which one is best for the situation.
- Sightstone: almost always a staple on any support. 800g for the vision and extra health will not set you back. As Galio Support you will be tanking late game - soaking up insane amounts of AP damage for your team and unleashing surprisingly powerful attacks. You will need some Health in your build, the SS is an obvious start.
- Mikael's Crucible: bottom line: this item is an amazing option for supports. Save your carries. As an AP caster you will NEED some mana regen, so an early Chalice of Harmony is a great idea. This item will give you more HP and CDR as well as MR to feed your passive. (If you want to be more offensive Athene's Unholy Grail would be fine)
- Aegis of the Legion: more HP, more MR, and the defensive aura for your team. Once you upgrade this into Locket of the Iron Solari you will have even more CDR and HP as well as the active shield for teamfights.
- Mercury's Treads: do it. Tenacity + MR + move speed. Keep in mind the MR makes you stronger offensively as well.
- Spirit Visage: CDR, MR, HP. Pretty great. Also since you heal with your Bulwark (W) the passive from this item will increase your heals.
(Note the 40% CDR full end build: 10/TOA/FOTM + 10/MIKAELS + 10/LOCKET + 10/S VISAGE)
- Obviously there are other items you might need to build instead. Say you messed up and they do have a couple AD champs on their team. Build Randuin's Omen maybe. Or thornmail. Think about what you need to counter your enemy.

* Considering that as Galio, your reason for being summoned in this way is to disrupt the flow of the enemy's AP heavy team composition. You will be very useful for your team in mid-late game engagements. But in lane you ARE AGAINST AN ENEMY ADC as well as support. (hopefully the enemy support is AP or your time in lane will be a struggle beyond the already obvious challenges)
- Play safe. You don't have hard CC until 6 and could get forced into an all in against a support (like Leona or Brand) and likely come out on the losing end of the trade.
- You are a caster. You don't need to get right up to the enemy laners to trade. Your auto attacks are in most cases not worth putting yourself that close to the enemy, especially early on in lane.
- Use your (Q) Resolute Smite to harass. And be ready when things get messy to slow the enemies down with it. This is your only way to keep them back.
- Conserve your mana. While you do want to throw out Q's and poke and force them back before an engage you don't want to go crazy on using your spells constantly. You won't deal much damage, especially early on before you stack with your passive. Also you will have mana trouble until your Chalice. Keep in mind that you might need that mana for a good (w) Bulwark shield on your carry or an (E) Wind Tunnel for a quick escape from a gank/hard engage.
- You DO HAVE SUSTAIN. While you can not heal your ADC, your (W) Bulwark will restore HP to you. It works by healing you by a set amount for up to 4 times (diminishing each next) triggering the heal each time the person you shielded is attacked. This includes lane minions. You can throw the shield on yourself or carry while taking some weak minion aggro for a nice heal.
-Your (W) Bulwark also gives the target bonus Armor and MR. This means if you use it on yourself before using an offensive ability your passive will give you more AP because of the MR from the shield and do more damage. Use this to your advantage - it has a lot of different possibilities.
- Don't rank up your (E) Wind Tunnel more than once early on. It won't be worth using to harass early on due to it's low damage and your mana problems. Save it for when your team needs to engage or disengage.
- You can have a successful laning phase as Galio Support, but I urge to be somewhat defensive early on and wait for the fun scaled late-game-beast-mode to begin.

* Personally, I favor using scaling MR runes for Support Galio. Think about it. You don't necessarily need the MR early on for lane, you need it for the teamfighting phases. Even if there is an AP support on the other side you are still considerably tanky without flat MR.
- if you favor a strong early game then by all means use flats! That will even increase your early game damage output. Who knows - maybe you can snowball off of an early victory in lane.
- personally, however, I feel that the scaling MR runes are what you need to be the late game anti-AP tank that the enemy casters will find themselves frustrated to have to face.

* Here is an image link of my rune page: http://postimg.org/image/jyh6j853z/


* Rune page I most strongly recommend
Marks x9 armor flats
Seals x2 armor flat
Seals x7 scaling mr
Glyphs x9 scaling mr
Quints x3 scaling mr

*Alternative rune page (for some serious late game scaling fun)
Marks x9 scaling mr
Seals x9 scaling mr
Glyphs x9 scaling mr
Quints x3 scaling mr
(This full set grants something around 74 MR at level 18. lol.)

[note: that some of these runes are not owned by most players and any scaling MR could be substituted for flat MR. The quints also could be swapped for AP flats. Seals could be swapped for armor/health. I understand that most players do not own scaling MR runes other than glyphs.]

* OK so the scaling MR runes are there for obvious reasons
- The 10 armor you will get from the set of Marks + the seal will protect you from the inevitable harass from the enemy ADC. You will be glad you brought some armor.

Max your Q. This will be your main form of harass and only way to slow/interfere with enemy movements.

Second work on your shield.

In most situations I will suggest going Q,W,Q,E,Q,R. After level 6 continue prioritizing Q then W. You might think you want the E ranked up higher to do more damage but if you try to harass with it you will deplete your mana quickly. Having your shield leveled instead will provide you a method of sustain as well as a way to protect your carry. Also you can W yourself before you Q for a more powerful Resolute Smite - and if you manage to also receive the heals from your Bulwark then you just made excellent use of your mana.

* On my Galio Support I run a split of 0/27/3.
- Here is a screenshot of the masteries: http://postimg.org/image/ar4yxm1ir/
- The goal of this build is to become too tanky to target in the late game by stacking MR against an AP heavy team and gaining offensively at the same time - so the Defence tree is nearly filled.
- The 10% bonus armor and magic resist will eventually turn into a huge investment. Think about all of the MR that you will generate post level 6 with your scaling MR runes and your masteries - not to mention if you (W) Bulwark yourself for even more!

* Flash is a must on Galio. Even Galio Support. Your ability to flash ult into 3+ enemy champions and CC them all could be what your team needs to win a team-fight. And since you are a tank build that will be buying a lot of health and resistance items you should find it possible to make some strong engages.
- Also, when/if you do flash-ult or ult in general consider a well timed (W) to increase your MR and ARMOR (deal more damage and receive less from the taunted AA's) IF POSSIBLE IN combination with your FOTM and Locket actives.
- When you ult, the damage it deals will increase by 10% for each attack Galio is dealt while channeling - up to 80%. So the closer you are to your taunted enemies the more likely you will get that bonus damage.

* The other obvious options are exhaust or ignite. This all comes down to player preference or if you think you need the exhaust for let's say the enemy Fiora.
- Typically I will run ignite because that gives the ever present threat to the enemy laners that if someone gets too low we can secure a kill. Plus you already have a slow - (Q).
- Also while Galio is channeling his Ult he can cast ignite (and his (W) as well as active items)

* If you have an ADC that has a hard time conserving mana and could utilize some extra spam power - then I will say that Clarity is not a bad option. If you decide to run clarity revise the masteries so that you have at least 7 points in utility for Summoner's Insight to decrease the cooldown of your summoner spells.

* Congratulations. You are ready now to try support Galio for yourself when the right match-up arrives. You will gain power while directly building your defenses against the enemy team comp, and have some really good late game potential.



-Aaron Mctizzle