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Oh, BTW, what I really have to tell you I disagree in this guide, is your altruism towards carries. Really dude? Letting the carries take the kills? U have a champion that has a ****ing execution as an ultimate and u think about feeding carries? Garen can farm better than anyone could ever expect and he can very well assume the roll of a carry, there is absolutely no need to be selfless. Garen, like Lee Sin, is one of those champions who can claim each and every kill for themselves, champions for which kill stealing even, should never be regarded as a bad thing. It may seem very rude what I'm saying, but it's the hard truth, Garen is one of the best executioners in this game, if he can take a kill, he should take it, you're never too fed... :)) I once played a game in which I farmed more than any of the 3 carries in my team: Ashe, Miss Fortune and Twitch. Garen may not offcially be a carry, but he can very well be played as one, due to his ability to out-farm his opponents with his exceptional laning presence, given by durability and his passive. Again, Garen should kill whatever he can, he deserves it, especially with a build like this, in which he does most of the damage

I want to say that your build is pretty nice. Mine is similar, but with two pretty important changes. First of all, i really don't know why people say they need CDR so bad, I mean yeah, sure, Garen is skill dependent and has no mana so he's only limited by cool-downs. But in an AD build like this, Garen becomes so overly overpowered he can actually supplement his Judgement with auto-attacks so Yomuu's Ghostblade goes. Sure it gives a lot of things, but there are two things that give those bonuses a lot better, u just have to be very selective.

Phantom Dancer may not seem like the best ideea for Garen, but believe me, it is. It gets your attack speed at 1.3 and makes you freaking Ousain Bolt of LoL, things that poor Ghostblade only does as a pretty short-lasting active effect, which many of us often forget to activate. Plus it gives a 30% critical hit chance, bringing the total to an un-****ing-believable value of 73%. This will make both Judgement and auto-attacks crit each and every time, turning you into an unstoppable destruction machine, Youmuu's only gives half that chance, and believe me, 15% counts. Of course if you're up against a very armored tank like Malphite and u want the extra AD and the armor pen that Youmuu's gives, I think it's a lot better to replace it with an item that gives more of both, and is also cheaper: Last Whisper, or how I like to call it, the menace of every armor maniac in this game.

If you're still frowning over the CDR that u lose by not getting Youmuu's, I have to tell u that by the time buy it, cool-downs will be significantly lower and you won't be that dependent on your skills like u used to be early-game. For reducing early-game cool-downs the only possible solution are the gliphs, which should be a must-have for Garen, but Youmu's Blade really loses it's significance.

Next I want to point out the other defensive item that u take should only be Force of Nature if you're up against at least two pure AP champions on the enemy team, and by AP champions I mean things like Annie, Brand, Malzahar, Karthus, Veigar, Fiddlesticks, Ryze, Heimerdinger or Katarina, not things like Sion, Alistar, Ezreal, Corki, Twisted Fate, Teemo or Kayle. For a team that doesn't have any mage, u buy another armor item, and that item should be the one that also grants HP, Sunfire cape, which will also increase Atma's effectiveness and grant you a very nice damaging aura. Of course if you're facing an all AD team it would be a good ideea to buy Randuin's Omen instead, as it will still give u some HP, more armor and a lot of neat effects, including the CDR, which u might be longing for. With this increase in HP u can relinquish Warmog's and buy another health giving item from which you will benefit greatly: Frozen Mallet. Of course it doesn't give the same amount of HP, neither the same AD from Atma's, but these things will be compensated from the 20 AD it gives and the extra HP u earned from Sunfire Cape or Randuin's Omen. But what this item really does nice for u is that it gives u an on-hit slow effect which will makes sure that no one ever escapes from u ever again, believe me, that's priceless. But I have to repeat: only buy this over Warmog's Armor if the enemy team you are facing is one that allows you to pick armor items over Force of Nature. If not, stick with Warmog's, it's health regen coupled with that of FoN will make you like Wolverine.

U may not like my build very much, but you can give it a try, if you want, and then you can tell me what you think. Of course, in my ideea, I build Phantom Dancer almost last and so you might have to play a lot of games before getting to one that actually lasts that long.

P.S. There is another item with which u could substitute Youmuu's Ghostblade, it's Hextech Gunblade. This thing gives life-steal as well as spell vamp, and 60 AD so it's basically a Bloodthirstier fashioned especially for Garen, him needing to refill on health from Judgement as well as auto-attacks. I didn't actually try this, so I don't know how well it'll work, especially since you won't have Phantom Dancer and therefore Judgement will NOT crit everytime, the life u gain might just not be worth it, but hey, you never know 'till u try, right?

Almost perfect. I got some things that I think would be better.

The masteries I use are 14/16/0: the points in offence for Deadliness, Cripple, Sorcery, 1pt in Alacrity, Sunder and 2pt in Brutal Force.

For defense I take the Resistance, Hardiness, Evasion, Nimbleness, Harden Skin, and 4 pts in Veteran's Scars.

For a starting item I usually pick Brawler's Gloves, for rushing Avarice Blade and Ghostblade but lvl1 boots also work. The early crit adds damage to your E.

The build order I use is Brawler's gloves > Avarice blade + lvl1Boots > Brutalizer > lvl3 Boots > Ghostblade > Warmog's > Atma's > Infinity Edge.

Warmog is needed earlier since you would want to have it before team fights start. Atma's right after for damage etc. FoN is not needed since you are a dps first and a tank second. Warmogs + your W should make you tanky enough for almost the entire game.

Max Courage last, always.
CDR Glyphs help too.
Flat damage runes and health quints do wonders for first blood, but not needed.

you really got it lol. Great guide too, but as everyone comments on new guides "you need some coloURS". and you really dont need to finish the ghostbale before youhave completed everything else. Warmogs is very important to complete very early, IMO.

lol I feel exactly the same xD Spent almost all my time on League of Legends playing Garen, felt useless until He was beefed up in a useful fashion =)

Good guide. Sad a lot of people don't know about IE's usefulness on Garen. It's a Garenteed kill if you have it ;) Only thing I disagree with is the early finishing of Ghostblade. If I do really well I go brut and rush IE. Then go tanky. Went IE once and got told to read a build guide, so here we are :P +1