Galio Build Guide by JAYZORZ

Introduction

Hey guys and welcome to my Galio guide. I haven't written many guides of late because I have been trying to get my ranked teams up. Unfortunantly we dropped elo one game off gold :( oh well, we'll see what happens.

I have been maining middle lane, and suprisingly oftenly found myself resorting to melee middle laners including Galio.

Here I will detail a good way to build Galio. Although this was to aid my teamcomp aswell, it is still transferrable to standard play.

Runes

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration is the default rune as it grants significant magic penetration, and alot of people, unlike galio, don't stack magic resistance meaning the flat MPen is strong, amplifying damage significantly.

Greater Seal of Armor is taken due to minion aggro and damage early game is quite high, particularly as you are melee and may wish to freeze lane infront of turret so you can secure all the cs. These runes also mitigate ganks from AD junglers.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist Ok well considering these are quite standard on any mid laner due to their damage mitigation, it is obvious. But made even more obvious thanks to Runic Skin making these not only grant significant defense, but also giving you half as much AP.

See below for Quintessence comparison

AP/MR Quintessences

Working from Negatron Cloak and Blasting Wand providing 48 MR and 40 AP for 740 and 860 gold respectively

Equations

---

740/48=Price/MagicResistance
Price/MagicResistance=15.42

860/40=Price/AbilityPower
Price/AbilityPower=21.5

This means it costs 21.5 gold for 1 Ap, and 15.42 gold for 1 Mr, so giving that Greater Quintessence of Magic Resist give 12 magic resist whereas ability power quints give 15 ap


Equations

---

(Magic Resistance Bonus * Price for 1 Magic Resist) + (Ability Power Bonus * Price for 1 Ap)

---

(12*15.42)+(6*21.5) = 314.05 worth

Ability Power Bonus * Price for 1 Ap

---

15 * 21.5 = 322.5 gold worth

So, it is technically, gold wise, better to take Greater Quintessence of Ability Power, but the main reason why you want to play Galio is to counter an opponent AP mid (generally someone with DoT) and I find that Greater Quintessence of Magic Resist are better for this, but are only really useful thanks to Runic Skin, else the gold disparison is too significant.

Masteries

9/12/9, particularly on melee mids, adds alot of safety while not sacrificing too much damage, especially given that you gain a bit of MR, and therefore AP.

You can try 21/9/0 or even the typical middle lane of 21/0/9, but seeing as you transition into an AP offtank AoE bruiser more so than a carry, defense helps more than it would for other mid champs.

Arcane Knowledge is the main thing we want from the offense tree as the % MPen is nice. Resistance and Hardiness for early game helps alot. Veteran's Scars is a strong single point ability and Indomitable is a great ability too.

Expanded Mind and Meditate for Runic Affinity is also a good idea if you are going to be grabbing blue buffs, as is improved flash, enabling more chances to flash into an Idol of Durand.

Items (Start)

Galio is a more versatile champion when it comes to starting items than many other mid champions in my opinion.

Meki Pendant is quite common, and does allow you to spam abilities to harass/farm but isn't neccessary early while you can just autoattack minions with little to no hassle. Viable, especially if you are not familiar with Galio and plan to farm with abilities instead of autoattacks and thusly using your mana, particularly without taking greater seal of replenishment due to needing armour as you are in melee range of minions and enables 2 Health Potions to be purchased.

Null-Magic Mantle puts you closer to your first goal, as is the aim of Meki Pendant, being Chalice of Harmony. This is a viable choice too if versing a strong harassing opponent like Cassiopeia. Also enables 2 Health Potions

Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potions are also a good choice on any champion, particularly if versing opponents with skillshots, particularly delayed skillshots such as Brand.

Ideally your first back should be around 1k gold so you can finish your Chalice of Harmony, Boots of Speed and grab 2 sight wards for the top and bottom of your lane, which will enable you to shove your lane and roam or freeze lane in the middle with little chance of a gank.


Tip: Some champions can elude wards, so watch out, particularly for Evelynn but also if they know where your wards are they can manuevour around them.

Items (Early Game)

Galio is very strong at farming, despite harassment so just try to keep up with, or outfarm, your lane opponent. After you have your Chalice of Harmony and probably a blue buff, you can spam your abilities to push waves and then proceed to take their wraiths, or your wraiths if your jungler is ok without them.


Tip: Place a ward at your opponents wraiths, and one near baron/dragon (the other side) to keep an eye on the junglers movements and see if you can take the wraiths safely (Wraiths spawn timer is 50 seconds)

Grab early Mercury's Treads if they have CC between their jungler and mid lane (else you can delay this purchase for a while, but they do offer AP for Galio ofcourse).

An early catalyst the protector can give you more sustain to withstand poke and continue pushing and farming safely.

Here you should grab an Abyssal Mask as it is a great item for Galio thanks to the MPen shredding 30 MR opponents down to ~0 (thanks to runes), allowing for true damage, whilst also granting significant AP, MR and thusly even more AP.

Items (Mid Game)

Mid Game will start breaking out teamfights, predominantly over objectives. Here, you will be faced with bruisers from the top lane and ad carries and as such you should pick up some armour, for now a Chain Vest should suffice until they start to get stronger.

Finishing your Athene's Unholy Grail should be your next priority as it is a very strong item, almost tailor made to Galio, much like Abyssal Mask.

When that is completed, upgrading the Chain Vest into a Glacial Shroud (if your team is not already building frozen heart else you should build a different armour item such as Guardian Angel or Thornmail).

catalyst the protector

Items (Late Game)

Upgrade your catalyst the protector to Banshee's Veil and your Glacial Shroud to Frozen Heart as needed, then build a situational 6th item that would benefit you the most from the list below

• Rabadon's Deathcap
• Guardian Angel
• Force of Nature
• Thornmail
• Warmog's Armor
• Void Staff
• Rylai's Crystal Scepter
• Randuin's Omen

Item Explanation (Standard)

Athene's Unholy Grail is a strong item, adding alot of AP and MR as well as plenty of mana regeneration.

Mercury's Treads add tenacity, MR and AP.

Abyssal Mask helps your team by shredding the opponents MR, increasing your own as well as your AP.

Banshee's Veil adds a strong passive, but also adds a lot of health and mana, as well and MR and AP.

Frozen Heart is a gamebreaking item, and I feel it is neccessary on any team. It is strong on Galio due to the tank nature of Galio and the damage mitigation, particularly during Idol of Durand.

Even though you are tank, you have a lot of AP due to Runic Skin and as such, Rabadon's Deathcap is a strong item to buy.

Item Explanation (VS Stacked AP)

Athene's Unholy Grail is a strong item, adding alot of AP and MR as well as plenty of mana regeneration.

Mercury's Treads add tenacity, MR and AP.

Abyssal Mask helps your team by shredding the opponents MR, increasing your own as well as your AP.

Banshee's Veil adds a strong passive, but also adds a lot of health and mana, as well and MR and AP.

Replacing Frozen Heart and Rabadon's Deathcap with Spirit Visage and Force of Nature can add alot of durability and Spirit Visage synergises strongly with Bulwark, but could be upgraded later into Guardian Angel or Rabadon's Deathcap.

Item Explanation (VS Stacked AD)

Why is it blank?

Don't pick Galio if the opponent is stacked with AD, there are far better choices such as Malphite, Amumu or Cho'Gath.

Galio is best at being an anti-ap thanks to his passive Runic Skin making him scale off building defense, but if they don't have magic damage this passive is fairly redundant and may actually make you build items not relevant to the situation as you are trying to accommodate Runic Skin.

Skill Sequence

Maxing Resolute Smite allows wave clearing and therefore roaming or taking wraiths. Righteous Gust can be taken second to instantly kill caster minions but I rather Bulwark for the MR (and AP) it provides if selfcast and also adds alot of safety in lane.

Idol of Durand is the coupe de grace of Galio and can change the tide of a teamfight by dealing significant AoE damage, and granting safety to your whole team, particularly if combined with another cc such as Curse of the Sad Mummy or Unstoppable Force.

Tip: Time your Idol of Durand so that you don't get stunned as soon as you start channelling, as it will stop it. Be particularly careful of Twisted Fate with a gold Pick A Card or an Udyr in Bear Stance.

Skill Alternatives

Maxing Bulwark first if you are getting severely hurt or camped, or even just levelling it up with Resolute Smite will make you incredibly safe.

If the enemy has a strong burst AD jungler like Lee Sin or Xin Zhao your MR won't save you but Bulwark should be enough until you farm up and can ward out.

Summoner Spells

Flash is a strong spell on every champion for escaping or pursueing, and also when you have a strong initiation such as Idol of Durand, it becomes stronger.

Ignite increases damage output significantly early, and late game can be used to stop healing champions such as Dr. Mundo or Swain. Galio is unbelievably strong even from the first second of the game as you gain a lot of free AP thanks to your passive, allowing you to start with around 40 AP with no AP items. When combined with Ignite you can land a kill, suprising your opponent.

Teamfighting

In teamfights, you are not the tank still so you should not stay in the fight taking significant damage without a Guardian Angel, but rather should enter the fight and lock down opponents with Idol of Durand to allow a free engage for your team. You should then look to use all your spells and kite if possible/neccessary.

Due to this playstyle, you may not rack up kills but will accumulate assists and allow your team to become dominant and enable global objectives to be taken.

Summary

In summary, Galio is a very strong and versatile mid that currently can dominate the meta, countering almost every champion and even carrying despite being significantly tanker than potential lane opponents.

Learn when to choose Galio and reap the rewards, have fun and good luck with Galio guys, but for now, good bye.